According to multiple expert sources, roughly one in 10 Americans or more have either an allergy, sensitivity, or intolerance to a food. About a third of these sufferers have an allergy that is potentially life-threatening. This calls for greater caution than ever among product manufacturers.

What distinguishes these three conditions? An allergy is a response by your body’s immune system: think hives, rashes, or in a worst-case scenario, anaphylaxis. A food intolerance happens when your body fails to digest a food or an ingredient in food. Lactose intolerance is probably the most common.

Over time, the body loses the ability to produce the enzyme (lactose) that digests the carbohydrate in dairy foods, causing bloating, gas, and sometimes diarrhea. Taking a lactase enzyme when you drink milk or eat dairy foods will usually prevent symptoms of lactose intolerance. A food sensitivity, on the other hand, can produce symptoms that are unrelated to food allergies or intolerances. It’s not well-understood, but people can report stomach pain, joint pain, or even light-headedness.

Fermented foods are all the rage, and that’s not going away. However, fermented foods aren’t exempt from causing allergic reactions, intolerances, or sensitivities. Foods such as kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, and wine can help feed and grow a healthy gut environment. Yet approximately 10% of the US population reports hypersensitivity to wine. Many experts have singled out sulfites as being responsible for the reported reactions to wine, which range from headaches to sinus problems to hives, flushing, and asthma-like symptoms.

Sulfites are known to cause sensitivities, yet results of the study, “Allergic and intolerance reactions to wine,” published in 2018 in Allergologie Select, revealed that other components in wine could also be culprits, at least for some people. These included the grape proteins themselves; ingredients used in “fining” wines, such as fish gelatin, molds and yeasts; and even proteins from insects that contaminate the mash.

On the other hand, fermentation can also hold promise for reducing food sensitivity. A 2020 study published in the journal Nutrients looked at the changes in cashew allergenicity during the fermenting of cashew “cheese.” Five different cashew cheeses, including analogs of brie and bleu, were studied, and from start-to-finish, reductions in allergen content ranged from 29% to 66%.

Someone with a true allergy to cashews would still need to avoid these cheese analogs, but these results suggest that those with milder sensitivities may have an option, especially if the fermentation process can advance to further reduce cashew allergen content. It should be noted, however, that the study did not take into consideration that the analogs used a different starter from the ones used in the classic versions which contain fungi from the Penicillium genus, itself a potential allergen.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Sensitivity

In 1969, a physician published a letter to the editor of a medical journal in which he noted symptoms of headache, flushing, and light-headedness after eating Chinese food. He didn’t know the reason, so he suggested several possibilities. Monosodium glutamate—MSG—used in cooking was the only one that stuck.

The news immediately went “viral” and soon MSG was the subject of widespread scrutiny and anecdotal condemnation. A number of product manufacturers and restaurants stopped using it, and “No MSG” banners began appearing on restaurant menus and food labels.

The conundrum is that afteer more than 50 years of research, MSG sensitivity has not been sufficiently validated. In fact, except for a few studies with children, it has been disproven in numerous large, randomized, double-blind controlled studies.

It’s difficult to connect the MSG sensitivity dots: MSG is made up of two components, sodium and glutamate. Sodium is present in most foods, and is far more common than MSG in the diet. Glutamate is an amino acid, a building block of protein. It is a “non-essential” amino acid because the body already makes its own glutamate in far greater amounts than is derived from the diet, albeit bound to its proteins. Many common foods are natural sources of glutamate, including mushrooms, tomatoes, and certain cheeses, yet sensitivities to them are uncommon.

Glutamate is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream. About 95% stays in the digestive tract, so much so that it is the most prevalent amino acid in the gut. It also is important for many of the gut’s metabolic and immune functions.

Fortunately, in recent years ingredient technologists have made impressive strides that reduce many of the differences between these ingredients and their conventional counterparts. Partnering with such ingredient specialists can be a great advantage for product developers and manufacturers.

Natural competitors
More organic products are hitting store shelves than ever before, and it is important to consider shifting consumer sentiment towards organic products.

So far, many consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay the higher price point associated with organic products. Plus, as supplies of organic ingredients increase, prices decrease. Yet natural products have fewer restrictions and regulations associated with the term natural, versus the strict regulation of organic product labeling. So how is it that, as strong as the natural market is, the organic market is much larger and is growing faster?

In spite of the lack of definitive evidence for MSG being a potential allergen, consumer perception has power and many US manufacturers are hard-pressed to use MSG. Moreover, some food retailers, such as Whole Foods Markets, maintain a list of banned ingredients, one of which is MSG.

While MSG still has some hurdles to overcome to regain widespread acceptance in the US, the recent surge in interest in umami is returning cachet to its original source: glutamate.

The Staff of Life—Without Gluten

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that affects about 1 in 100 persons. It doesn’t cause an immediate reaction, so it’s sometimes not considered a “true” allergy. However, if a person with celiac disease eats foods containing gluten, consequences can include the full gamut of gastric disturbances. Unaddressed, this can eventually lead to diseases or conditions ranging from weight loss, iron deficiency anemia, lactose intolerance, and malnutrition to early onset osteoporosis/osteopenia, gall bladder malfunction, heart disease, infertility and miscarriage, or liver failure.

Avoiding gluten, found only in certain grains, including wheat and its cousins—rye, barley, spelt, and bulgur—is the only sure solution. For manufacturers, the FDA sets a limit of below 20 ppm to qualify for a gluten-free label claim. However, some persons with severe forms of celiac disease cannot tolerate even that level. Many manufacturers of gluten-free products strive for levels as low as 5-10ppm. If a grain contains gluten, it will do so whether it is in a whole or refined form. In addition to celiac disease, there is “non-celiac gluten sensitivity”, or NCGS. About 80% of persons with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) report that one or more gluten-containing foods trigger symptoms.

Perhaps because of the abundance of “gluten-free” labels on packaging, gluten has unfairly been stigmatized as an unhealthy component of food. Unless a person is gluten sensitive or has celiac disease however, avoiding gluten is not a strategy for improving health. If a grain contains gluten, it will do so whether it is in a whole or refined form.

Oats don’t contain gluten but using them in a product intended for a gluten-free consumer can be tricky. Oats are often grown by farmers who also grow wheat or other gluten-containing grains. As much as they try to keep the other grains separated, some cross-contamination can happen. Unless the oats are certified gluten-free, it can be difficult to guarantee that a product is gluten-free, even if the ingredients aren’t “supposed” to have any gluten.

Buckwheat, despite its name, has no gluten. It’s not even technically a grain, although its seeds are eaten and it can be milled into flour. (Botanically, it’s actually related to rhubarb.). Some ancient relatives of wheat, such as emmer and Khorasan (a.k.a. kamut), also have been shown not to trigger reactions in wheat-sensitive persons, although true celiac sufferers should still avoid these grains. PF