Bloated, inflamed and puffy: Differences between allergies and food intolerances

It all started about 20 years ago. Out of the blue, Melina Elliott started getting chronic migraines.

“I had all of the scans and I remembered I had a full dental X-ray of my whole head to see if there was something misaligned with my jaw and nothing,” Elliott said.

So she decided to eliminate chocolate and red wine.

“Sure enough, as soon as I did, then it really decreased the frequency and intensity of the migraines,” Elliott said. “Then you say to yourself, ‘No, it can’t be the chocolate or it can’t be the red wine,’ and then you have the red wine and you get a migraine.”

Then in her late 30s, Elliot really dialed into how her diet was making her feel. She soon figured out she also has a gluten intolerance.

“I started noticing the inflammation that was happening in my body whenever I would have something that had gluten in it. I would feel bloated, and my joints would feel inflamed and I would feel really puffy,” Elliott said.

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All of Elliott’s symptoms point to food intolerances, whereas allergies typically cause hives, swelling or even anaphylaxis.

Pediatric allergist, clinical immunologist and professor at McMaster University, Mariam Hanna, says food intolerances are often confused with allergies.

“They tend to be inconsistent in how they occur,” Hanna said.

“They may not cause the same symptoms as an allergy. So, frequently with intolerances, we hear about people having delayed tummy issues that sometimes happen and sometimes don’t happen.”

Most food intolerance symptoms occur in the gut and can range from gas and bloating to a change in bowel habits.

Registered dietitians can play a key role when helping patients get to the root cause of their symptoms.

“What I often recommend is to keep more of a food symptom journal to really identify or to see some patterns,” registered dietitian Madelaine Morrish said.

Morrish says there’s also a lot of fear-mongering online when it comes to food intolerances.

“I have to do this for the rest of my life,” Morrish said.

“I have to eliminate these foods and that’s it — but oftentimes I’m reminding them in practice, we want to identify if that is even appropriate for you based on your symptoms.”

As for Elliott, once she found and then eliminated her trigger foods, it became a game changer.