With allergy diagnoses on the rise in the city, Holly Sands visits Dubai Herbal and Treatment Centre to learn more about the unfortunate world of food intolerances, and get tested herself to see what she should be avoiding.
It’s no secret that all the best things in life contain either flour, eggs or a combination of both: think bread, ice cream sundaes and huge slabs of Victoria sponge cake. Imagine our dismay then to be told we must strike these from our diet for 12 long months.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), food allergies seem to be on the rise in all industrialised countries, and food intolerances are believed to be even more common. With ever more celebrities jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon and health-conscious men and women the world over following suit, supermarkets – including those in the UAE – have rushed to stock products that meet the increasing variety of special dietary requirements.
The number of people going for food intolerance testing appears very much on the rise also. Dr Maria Ridao Alonso at the Dubai Herbal and Treatment Centre in Zabeel notes that the number of clients she sees for blood tests has indeed swelled. ‘At the moment I do an average of 70 food intolerance tests a month on new patients – when I started doing testing here around eight years ago I would typically get between ten and 20.’
It’s Dr Maria who delivers us the news from our own test, which – out of the 269 foods tested – reveals intolerances to 17, including pumpkin, leek, carrot, coconut and poppy seeds, which we’re instructed to avoid for six months. It is also revealed that we are gluten and egg-intolerant, both of which come with a much longer period of abstinence – a whole year.
‘The most common intolerances generally are dairy, gluten, eggs and yeast, but very often different fruits and vegetables as well,’ Dr Maria says. She explains that what an individual is likely to be intolerant to depends on their dietary habits – apparently we are more likely to develop intolerances to foods that we eat with extreme regularity. ‘Very often we see reactions to food that people tend to overeat, meaning daily and a lot of it.’ Here in the UAE, she notes that clients often present intolerances to honey and dates, as people tend to eat a lot more of them than in places such as Europe.
So what are the symptoms of an intolerance? Unlike allergies, where reactions to food present themselves immediately and visibly, the effects of intolerance are slower-building and harder to identify. Patchy dry skin and inexplicable fatigue spurred us to get tested, but symptoms vary from person to person. ‘The most common signs are digestive problems – gas, bloating, constipation or diarrhoea – fatigue, weight gain and skin issues such as acne, rashes and urticaria [hives]. Headaches and hormonal imbalances too,’ she says.
As the symptoms take so long to take hold, long periods of avoiding problem foods are necessary to undo the harm that has been done. This time off also resets the body, in a sense, and most people will be rid of their intolerances and able to reintroduce these foods into their diet – albeit in a balanced way. ‘In your case, the bloating and fatigue should get better,’ Dr Maria assures us.
In the meantime, it’s out with bread, pasta, cake, biscuits, ice cream, omelettes – even soy sauce, we’re told, often contains gluten. In the few weeks following our diagnosis, we find ourselves spending longer in supermarkets as we study labels intently, Googling unfamiliar words on our smartphone. As egg is also on our banned list, we’re dismayed to discover that this cuts out a whole range of special gluten-free breads (dried egg whites are on the ingredients lists). The good news, however, is that a number of restaurants in Abu Dhabi now cater to gluten-intolerant people, including Spaccanapoli – their pizza is a real treat at the end of our first two bread-free weeks. Unexpectedly, carrots are the one that keep catching us out, because we’re not used to having to restrict our vegetable intake – less than ten minutes after walking out of the doctor’s office, we find ourselves ordering a carrot and orange juice. We get halfway through it before realising our idiocy.
Clearly, it’s an ongoing battle. After just a few weeks though, it already feels worth it, as we notice almost immediately that we are far less prone to bloating after eating. And we know that 11 months down the line, there’s a very large slice of Victoria sponge waiting for us.
Dhs2,500 for testing and consultation. Dubai Herbal & Treatment Centre, Zabeel 1, www.dubaihtc.com (04 335 1200).
