#303 Allergies, Intolerances and Food Fear: What You Really Need to Know about Testing and Treatment with Dr Helen Evans-Howells
The Doctor's Kitchen Podcast
Dr Rupy Aujla
4.8 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 25 June 2025
⏱️ 132 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are you truly allergic to dairy or just intolerant? Can headaches, joint pain or fatigue be signs of hidden allergies? And what about those online food intolerance tests? Can you trust them?
In this episode, Dr Helen brings clarity and evidence to the confusing world of food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities.
We cover:
- 🧠 Whether allergies can show up as migraines, fatigue, gut issues or mood changes
- 🔬 Why allergy rates are rising
- 🧪 The truth about IgG testing and other common myths
- 🥜 Whether it’s safe to give babies peanut or egg before age one, and why early exposure matters
- 💬 How to approach elimination diets and reintroductions safely
- ❤️ The emotional toll on families and where to find support
We also explore rising allergy rates, the hygiene hypothesis, environmental triggers including plant-based proteins, and what is actually working in clinics today, such as immunotherapy and support networks.
If you or someone you love is navigating the food allergy maze, this episode is full of practical and science-based insights.
Dr Helen Evans Howells is a GP with a Master's in Allergy with distinction from the University of Southampton. She trained and worked with the hospital’s allergy team for over four years. She now runs a specialist allergy clinic offering food immunotherapy for children and lectures widely across the UK and internationally. Dr Helen is a trustee of Anaphylaxis UK, Chair of its Clinical and Scientific Panel and former Chair of the Primary Care Group at the British Society of Allergy.
🎬 Watch the podcast on YouTube here
📱 Download The Doctor’s Kitchen app
🌐 View full show notes, including guest details, on our website
🥗 Join the newsletter and receive a 7 day meal plan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Dr. Helene, can migraines and headaches be caused by allergies? |
| 0:04.9 | Generally not. |
| 0:06.1 | The increase of allergies is because we're too clean, true or false? |
| 0:11.0 | Not really, no. |
| 0:12.7 | If you feel better after cutting out dairy or gluten, does that mean you're intolerant? |
| 0:18.4 | Not necessarily. |
| 0:20.6 | Should you trust online food intolerance tests that tell |
| 0:24.4 | you which foods to cut out? Definitely not. Is it safe to give babies when they're weaning |
| 0:29.6 | peanut or egg before one year old? Yes. Hi, I'm Dr. Rupi. I'm a medical doctor and nutritionist. |
| 0:40.0 | And when I suffered a heart condition years ago, I was able to reverse it with diet and lifestyle. |
| 0:45.4 | This opened up my eyes to the world of food as medicine to improve our health. |
| 0:50.8 | On this podcast, I discuss ways in which you can use nutrition and lifestyle to improve |
| 0:56.4 | your own well-being every day. I speak with expert guests and we lean into the science, |
| 1:01.7 | but whilst making it as practical and as easy as possible so you can take steps to change your |
| 1:07.6 | life today. Welcome to the Doctor's Kitchen podcast. |
| 1:23.9 | Are you really allergic to dairy or just intolerant? Can headaches, joint pain or fatigue be signs of hidden allergies? And what about those online food intolerance tests? Should you |
| 1:28.6 | trust them? Well, in this episode, Dr. Helen breaks down the confusing world of food allergies |
| 1:34.2 | and tolerances and sensitivities with real clarity and evidence. You're going to learn about |
| 1:39.6 | whether allergies can actually show up as migraines, fatigue, gut issues or even mood changes, why |
| 1:45.5 | allergies are on the rise, the truth about IgG testing and other common myths, whether it's |
| 1:51.9 | safe to give young children peanut on egg, but especially before the age of one and why early |
| 1:57.4 | exposure actually matters, and how to approach things like elimination diets, |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 16 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr Rupy Aujla, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dr Rupy Aujla and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.