General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So, why the rise in peanut allergies anyway? [View all]LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)For example, I am not allergic to nuts, but I don't digest them well. As I have Crohn's disease, largely controllable by low medication doses and some dietary adjustments, I avoid nuts for this reason. However, if I do happen to eat a nut, it will not cause a life-threatening reaction. I think that some people call everything that they don't digest well an 'allergy'. A common example is that some people are poor at digesting milk and drinking more than small amounts has a laxative effect on them. This is different from a real allergy to milk, but is sometimes confused with it.
It is a good idea to exclude foods that one finds indigestible from one's diet, but an occasional error in this respect is not likely to cause acute severe illness, whereas a real allergy might.