When I ask my patients if they are allergic to any foods, some will answer that they have lactose intolerance. But lactose intolerance isn’t really a food allergy — but rather a food intolerance, as the name implies. A food intolerance certainly has a cause-and-effect relationship — meaning that symptoms occur after a food is eaten, but that doesn’t mean it’s a food allergy. Unlike a true food allergy, food intolerance doesn’t involve IgE antibody, which acts as a “trigger switch” to release chemicals such as histamine from mast cells.  

Learn more about the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of food allergies

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