Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??

Subject: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Claire M
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 11:08 AM

Hiya,

I got some for a present with strawberry oil in it. I only had a few squares. I woke up that night feeling as if someone was pulling my guts apart. When I went to the loo it was like a bomb had hit it. I wanted someone to kill me because the pain was so bad. This seems to happen every time I have it.

Only problem is, I love chocolate -- love it!, Milk lollies, ice cream, chocolate cake etc. I love it all.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 11:12 AM

That kind of symptom is typical for lactose intolerance.

Try dairy-free chocolate and see if you're okay with that.

But intolerance to chocolate itself can happen.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Crowhugger
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 11:25 AM

Strawberries can also trigger a range of symptoms from bowel to anaphalaxis.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: gnomad
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 11:36 AM

Might the allergy be to the strawberry oil, rather than to the chocolate? Your post suggests that your previous experience with chocolate has been OK, so one might expect the reaction to be caused by the 'new to you' ingredient.

Also possible is that you simply had a contaminated chocolate bar (or even something else you consumed around then) has anyone else had the same problem?

I hope it isn't the chocolate itself, that would be a real nuisance.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 12:19 PM

Get your physician to arrange an appointment with a specialist.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 02:41 PM

There are no tests for most kinds of food intolerance. All a specialist can do is diagnose based on the history - what happens when you eat certain things.

What they will usually do is try an elimination diet, where you remove the basic foods most likely to cause a problem, and introduce them again one by one until the symptoms recur, whereupon you know what does it. You can organize this yourself. In this case the most likely candidates are chocolate or dairy foods. (There are many different kinds of dairy intolerance - people can react to lactose, dairy fats or any of many different proteins, and all of those have different implications for what you can safely eat). It isn't difficult to manage your diet to exclude both of those and experiment with them separately.

But for an elimination diet to produce meaningful answers, the exclusion has to be total. When excluding dairy you have to exclude it in ALL processed forms. Desn't matter how little, what name it goes under or whether you can see or taste it. If any molecule of it came out of a cow's tit, avoid it.

Once you've tried the elimination diet yourself you have much more data to present a specialist with, if you still need to see one.

I am guessing that when you write "This seems to happen every time I have it", "it" means chocolate, not strawberry oil.

It's getting increasingly difficult to find dairy-free chocolate in the UK, but it can be done.

Finding food intolerance specialists is difficult.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 02:46 PM

Carob bars are an alternative to chocolate... not as good but OK as a second class replacement.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 02:57 PM

Too much chocolate makes your clothes shrink.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 08:25 PM

CIA ? MMMM Maybe I have a persecution complex? for no reason
but i eat chocolte and it seems to have a calming effect.
From the symtoms i would suspect the oil rather than the chocolate.
Indegestion / trapped wind dare i suggest cn have some strange side effects
I would totally agree wth Doug and many of the posts so far.
I would still suspect the oil

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 09:15 PM

Claire, I get that kind of response if I accidentally consume aspartame (NutraSweet). Nasty stuff.

I am allergic to chocolate and coconut (they're both found everywhere, so I spend a lot of time reading labels.) I get a contact dermatitis reaction on my hands if I've eaten either. Don't know why it does this, but it does. My mother was allergic to chocolate also. I didn't develop this till a few years ago.

SRS

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 24 Mar 13 - 02:24 AM

Claire, SRS's post makes me wonder if you have been eating sugar-free chocolate products with NutraSweet or other artificial sweeteners. Sorbitol, maltitol and mannitol are other artificial sweeteners that can cause diarrhea. They are often used in chocolate products.

Subject: RE: Help: Chocolate Intolerance/Allergy ??
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 13 - 12:04 PM

I had that thought also. Read the labels.