Have you experienced bloating after eating something? Or nauseous after drinking milk, maybe? Ever wondered why that happens? Food sensitivity is something that most of us have learned to live with. For one thing, it goes undetected almost 90% of the time because symptoms may occur as late as after 3 days of consuming the offending food. For another, food sensitivity triggers subtle and sometimes unrelated symptoms. For instance, a sensitivity to yeast may lead to excessive drainage from the sinus! Even doctors misdiagnose food sensitivity because of this. Food sensitivity vs. food allergy Most of us know an allergy when we see one. Food Allergies are sudden reactions by the body. Symptoms are almost immediate and quite severe. This is why it is easy to spot an allergy and not too difficult to find its cause. On the other hand, food sensitivity is very subtle and slow in coming. When you are sensitive to a certain kind of food, you are unable to digest and process it fully. This leads to a number of unrelated symptoms like persistent headaches, joint pain or tiredness. Generally, a good percentage of people are sensitive to gluten, wheat, dairy and fructose. But food sensitivity is not limited to food stuff alone. You could be sensitive to food coloring, food chemicals or preservatives – anything that is in the food. Most of the times, doctors and sufferers push aside food sensitivity because they believe that the problem is miniscule. But, research shows that food sensitivity is one of the leading causes of needless suffering in millions of people. Worse, undetected food sensitivities exacerbate the symptoms of other diseases and leave sufferers more vulnerable to a number of serious health risks. Most of the symptoms of food sensitivity are insidious. These are those uncomfortable pains and itches that we generally put up with. Mild ulcers, bloating, mild diarrhea, headaches, itching skin and mouth ulcers are some examples. However, by exposing ourselves continuously to the harmful effects of offending foodstuffs, we compromise our health seriously and even pave the way for serious diseases like bowel cancer, liver cirrhosis, osteoporosis, anemia and ulcer. When we are young, the body is able to recuperate faster and compensate the damage caused by offending foodstuff. But symptoms tend to become more severe with age. To make matters worse, food sensitivity aggravates conditions that typically appear in old age like diabetes, heart problems, kidney problems and liver dysfunction. Interestingly, food sensitivity can occur any time. So, a person may not suffer from any symptoms when they are in their 20s or 30s, but may start feeling the effects in their 40s. Sometimes, stress and lifestyle factors can trigger sensitivities. If left undetected, food sensitivities can cause a lot of unnecessary damage. Fortunately, food sensitivity can be remedied quite easily by identifying the foods that a person is sensitive to and avoiding them. By managing food sensitivity properly, sufferers can improve their resistance and live their life with renewed energy. Reports suggest that more than 75% of people in the US are sensitive to one or other kind of food. If you are one of them, it makes sense to investigate your food sensitivity, doesn’t it?