The Gastroenterologist's Guide to Food Allergies, Intolerances, and Sensitivities
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In recent years, clinicians and patients alike have experienced both significant interest in and confusion around food allergies/sensitivities and their manifestations in the gastrointestinal tract. A lack of clarity has led to frustration, inappropriate testing, and missed diagnoses. Medscape contributor Akash Goel, MD, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, spoke with Clifford Bassett, MD, the founder and medical director of Allergy & Asthma Care of New York, a clinical assistant professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a faculty member of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, and author of The New Allergy Solution, about working toward a framework with which to approach diagnostic dilemmas around these food-related conditions.
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@jeevandeep Food allergies are due to an immunologic response to a food antigen culminating in a characteristic set of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe, with severe being multiorgan system anaphylaxis. In addition to immediate IgE-mediated food allergies, T cell–mediated and mixed pathophysiology food allergic disorders may present with more delayed and usually chronic gastrointestinal symptoms of emesis, diarrhea, blood in stool, poor growth, and/or weight loss. These disorders include eosinophilic esophagitis, food protein–induced enterocolitis syndrome, allergic proctocolitis, and enteropathy.