An increasing number of people claim they are intolerant to wheat. Cutting bread, pasta and cereal out of our diet seems to be the trend du jour. However, dieticians believe that less than two per cent of the population actually suffer a food intolerance of any kind. So what wheat intolerance and gluten intolerance and how do you know if you are affected?

Far from being one condition, health problems involving wheat actually fall into three main groups: gluten intolerance, wheat allergy and wheat intolerance.

What is gluten intolerance?

Gluten intolerance, otherwise known as coeliac disease, is an auto-immune disease, which means that the body produces antibodies that attack its own tissues. For people with coeliac disease this attack is triggered by gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats.

The condition causes gluten to damage the lining of the small intestine which greatly reduces the ability of the gut to absorb adequate nutrients from food.

Coeliac disease affects one person in every thousand and most people are diagnosed between the ages of 30 and 45. Symptoms of coeliac disease may range from mild to severe, and can include bloating, diarrhea, nausea, wind, tired- ness, constipation, anemia, mouth ulcers, headaches, weight loss, hair loss, skin problems, short stature, depression, infertility, recurrent miscarriages and joint/bone pain.

Coeliac disease can be diagnosed by a gastroenterologist. The only treatment available to sufferers of coeliac disease is a gluten-free diet.

What is a wheat allergy?

An allergy is an abnormal immune system response to a substance (allergen) that would otherwise be harmless. The body “over-reacts” so fiercely to the allergen that it produces symptoms. This is called an allergic reaction.

A sensitivity or allergy to wheat can produce a variety of symptoms in the body such as sneezing, itching, rashes, watery eyes, runny nose, coughing, hay fever, headaches, nausea, digestive problems and swollen limbs.

Food allergies are often difficult to identify because reactions can be delayed by hours or even days. Wheat allergies are extremely rare affecting less than one per cent of the population.

Common chronic illnesses and conditions such as asthma, eczema, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis are often associated with wheat allergies.

Unlike classic allergies, if you are allergic to wheat you will usually be allergic to more than one food. On average, sufferers react to 4 or 5 different foods.

Sufferers are advised to eliminate wheat from their diet altogether. Diagnosis is by a skin-prick or blood test available at many allergy clinics.

What is wheat intolerance?

Food intolerance is an adverse reaction to some sort of food or ingredient that occurs every time the food is eaten, but particularly if larger quantities are consumed. This differs to a food allergy, because the immune system isn’t activated.

Food intolerance occurs when the body is unable to deal with a certain type of foodstuff because it doesn’t produce enough of the particular chemical or enzyme that’s needed for digestion of that food.

Symptoms of wheat intolerance include bloating, headaches, stomach cramps and joint pains. Many dieticians believe that getting a diagnosis for wheat intolerance is difficult. Some people find foods such as pasta and bread hard to digest. This is because pasta absorbs water, so it swells in the body and causes discomfort.

Also it is fashionable to blame intolerance on wheat. People forget that other foods such as dairy which are spread on bread (butter) or sprinkled on pasta (cheese) could be the offending culprit.

Nutritionists warn that an intolerance to wheat should not be assumed as cutting out foods such as bread, pasta and cereal could have adverse effects on health.