True food allergy (to nuts, milk, eggs etc) and coeliac disease are well recognised medical conditions for which, currently, the only treatment is total avoidance - a nut- free, dairy-free, egg-free or gluten-free diet.

However, there are many people who do not have a true (IgE mediated) food allergy yet who benefit from a wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, salicylate free etc diet. These people suffer from a food intolerance or a food sensitivity and in their cases, their food sensitivity nearly always appears as a symptom of, or a trigger for, a quite separate medical condition - IBS, eczema, asthma, ADHD, chemical sensitivity, ME, depression or mood swing etc

Foods Matter's mission is to support all of those people who have to live on a 'free from' diet, no matter what they are intolerant to, or why.

The articles in this section have all appeared in the Foods Matter magazine (or its predecessor, The Inside Story) at some point over the last ten years. They were written by medically qualified consultant allergists and other medical practitioners, nutritionists and dietitians, ecological medicine practitioners, alternative and complementary therapists and, in many cases, by the patients themselves.

They include a signficant number of conference reports through which we try to keep our readers conversent with the latest developments in all the conditions that we believe can be helped by a gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, egg free or any-other-food-free diet.

They also contain a number of 'real life stories' by people who have had to research their own conditions and devise their own treatment - and are anxious to pass on the knowledge they have gained in the hope that the road, for others, will not be so hard.

Many people suffer from multiple health problems or have a range of food sensitivities. These people should find articles of interest under several different headings. For example, someone with digestive problems should look at the articles in the Coeliac/wheat section, the Allergy section and the Irritable Bowel Syndrome section at the very least. Someone with eczema might also want to look in the Dairy and the Allergy sections, while someone with a hyperactive child might wish to look in ADHD, Autistic spectrum, Dyslexia, Mental health/behaviour and Allergies.

For the convenience of those with sick babies and children we have also combined all of the articles relevant to infant and child illnesses in one group even though they also appear elsewhere on the site under the relevant 'condition '.

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