Food-associated gastrointestinal disease.

The ingestion of food is frequently associated with specific adverse gastrointestinal symptoms, including emesis, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and gastrointestinal bleeding. This brief review discusses a variety of food-induced gastrointestinal diseases and will highlight the recent information pertaining to the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnostic approach, and treatment of these disorders. Reactions resulting from immediate hypersensitivity and cell-mediated processes will be reviewed in detail, as well as other proposed pathophysiologic mechanisms. The clinical presentation and diagnostic approach to several food-induced gastrointestinal diseases will be individually examined. In addition, the treatment, especially the proper use of nutritionally balanced restriction diets and hypoallergenic formulas, will be discussed.