Food Without Fear: Identify, Prevent, and Treat Food Allergies, Intolerances, and Sensitivities

A breathtaking one in five people in the U.S. has a health condition related to food-from disruptive sensitivities and intolerances to serious allergic reactions that can send them to the ER. These food-related problems are on a historic rise across all ages. And the spectrum of these ailments is wide and deep, with many tricky "masqueraders" in the mix to create a lot of confusion, potential misdiagnoses, and faulty or poor treatment-and immeasurable suffering for millions of people. The good news: Dr. Ruchi Gupta, on the front lines of this silent epidemic, now shares revolutionary research from her lab and clinical practice. In Food Without Fear, Dr. Gupta illuminates this misunderstood spectrum and offers a new approach to managing adverse reactions to food with a practical plan to end the misery and enjoy eating with ease.

This panoramic view empowers you to know what questions to ask your doctor to get the correct diagnosis. From debunking common myths (an allergy and an intolerance aren't the same thing-but both can have life-threatening consequences) to identifying masqueraders, to understanding triggers (including environmental factors), as well as the microbiome's role in adverse food reactions, these pages hold the answers. Using a framework of Identify and Empower, Treat, Manage and Prevent, and Thrive, Food Without Fear offers hope, help-and food freedom-to the millions of people who so need it.

Developed by world-renowned researcher Dr. Ruchi Gupta, this revolutionary spectrum approach empowers and informs so you can take charge of your health. In Food Without Fear, you'll learn:

- The differences between an allergy and an intolerance or sensitivity

- What "masqueraders" are and how to identify them

- Which health conditions are mistaken for food allergies-or can be triggered by them

- The top offenders that can spark an allergy attack or intolerance

- The surprising allergies on the rise (think red meat and exercise)

- The potential connections between genetics, environmental exposures, and risk for developing food-related conditions

- How to S.T.O.P. the misery and chart your healthy path forward


Offering assessments, information on the most up-to-date treatments, and practical tips for keeping yourself safe, Food Without Fear welcomes you back to the table.

Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, is a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a clinical attending at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Dr. Gupta has more than 17 years of experience as a board-certified pediatrician and health researcher and currently serves as the founding director of the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR). She is world-renowned for her groundbreaking research in the areas of food allergy and asthma epidemiology, most notably for her research on the prevalence of pediatric and adult food allergy in the United States. She has also significantly contributed to academic research in the areas of food allergy prevention, socioeconomic disparities in care, and the daily management of these conditions. To reduce the burden of these diseases and improve health equity, she and her team develop, evaluate, and disseminate interventions for families and conduct work to inform local, national, and international health policy.

Dr. Gupta is the author of the Food Allergy Experience, has written and co-authored over 140 peer-reviewed research manuscripts, and has had her work featured on major TV networks and in print media.

Kristin Loberg has a lengthy list of successful collaborations with eleven New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers to her credit. Kristin earned her degree from Cornell University, and lives in Los Angeles. She is a member of the Author's Guild, PEN, and teaches an intensive proposal-writing workshop at UCLA annually.