A survey shows that up to 45% of the population has different degrees of intolerance to certain foods. Food intolerance refers to the resistance reaction triggered by the body’s inability to adequately digest food macromolecules, which leads to a series of symptoms. So is it what we usually call a food allergy? No. Food allergy is a rapid-onset hypersensitivity reaction that occurs within minutes of eating the food in question and is usually easily detected and avoided for a long time. Food intolerance, on the other hand, has a more insidious onset and a longer duration, and the food that causes it is mostly the food that people usually eat, so it is more difficult to detect the cause. The symptoms of food intolerance can involve all systems of the body. The most common symptoms are those of the gastrointestinal tract and skin, such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, bad breath, mouth ulcers, nausea, flatulence, eczema, hives, skin amyloidosis, acne, etc. They are also symptoms that people usually notice easily. After dietary adjustment, the long-term problem is solved. The test for food intolerance is very simple and requires only 1 ml of blood. You can eat and drink normally before the blood is drawn, and there are no special requirements. The concentration of IgG antibodies to some common food antigens in the blood is used to determine if a food intolerance exists and what kind of food is intolerant. How can I adjust my diet if I am found to have food intolerance? Do I have to avoid all the foods that are detected as intolerances? It is not necessary to completely reject your favorite foods. We generally classify the test results into four levels: negative, mildly sensitive, moderately sensitive, and highly sensitive, depending on the concentration of IgG antibodies to each food antigen. After a few months of adjusting the diet according to the test results (about 6 months), the symptoms improve significantly and the “avoided” intolerant foods can be carefully introduced into the recipe, with some of them no longer causing the previous symptoms, and can be transferred to the rotation group. So it is not necessary to stay away from intolerant foods for life. If you have chronic symptoms and are struggling to find the cause, you can go to the hospital for a food intolerance test to find the real culprit so that you can enjoy a healthy life again.