Tuesday, September 18, 2007

That's what I thought all along!!

If you know anything from reading my blog, you know I love sweet, sweet vindication. Today's comes courtesy of the BBC's website. The highlighting is mine...


"Many 'Imagine' Food Intolerance"

Millions of people in the UK have self-diagnosed a food intolerance and may be avoiding key foods as a result, a poll by a testing firm suggests.

Less than a quarter of the 12m people who claim to be food intolerant have had their condition formally diagnosed.

While many of the nine million who also claim to be intolerant may well be so, it is suggested they may just be fussy.

Nearly 40% of the 1,500 people polled by Yorktest thought it trendy to be intolerant and many blamed celebrities.

Actress Rachel Weisz for instance has a well-publicised wheat intolerance, TV presenter Carol Vorderman a gluten one, and Rod Stewart's former wife, Rachel Hunter, a lactose intolerance.

The range of foods people declared themselves intolerant of was diverse, but grapefruit and sushi were declared by those polled to be key culprits.

Food intolerances are not as severe as food allergies, which in severe cases can prevent people from breathing properly.

But symptoms can nonetheless be uncomfortable, ranging from a stuffy nose to aching joints and nausea.

However the wide variety of complaints which people pin on food intolerances could be related to a number of other conditions.

Nutritionist Tanya Haffner said it was important to seek the advice of a qualified medical practitioner.

"You may be cutting out something you don't need to which might be putting your nutritional health and your longer term health at risk," she says.

No comments: