When I ask my patients if they are allergic to any foods, some will answer that they have lactose intolerance. But lactose intolerance isn\'t really a food allergy -- but rather a food intolerance, as the name implies. A food intolerance certainly has a cause-and-effect relationship -- meaning that symptoms occur after a food is eaten, but that doesn\'t mean it\'s a food allergy. Unlike a true food allergy, food intolerance doesn\'t involve IgE antibody, which acts as a \"trigger switch\" to release chemicals such as histamine from mast cells. '); document.write('