Life Insurance With A Food Intolerance
Intolerance, allergy and coeliac disease get used loosely in conversation and mean three different things medically.
For most people with an intolerance there is very little to declare: no diagnosis, no medication, no investigation. The reason this page exists is to help you avoid accidentally describing something more significant with the milder word, or the reverse.
This page covers that, and what we would ask.
The short answer
A food intolerance is difficulty digesting something, lactose being the common example, and it is not the same as a food allergy or as coeliac disease. That distinction is the main thing worth getting right on a form, because an allergy with a history of severe reaction is a materially different entry and so is a formal coeliac diagnosis.
What it is
A food intolerance is trouble digesting a food, producing symptoms such as bloating, wind, pain and loose stools. Lactose intolerance, where the body produces too little lactase to digest milk sugar, is the clearest example.
It does not involve the immune system in the way an allergy does, and it does not cause the intestinal damage that coeliac disease does. Management is avoidance, sometimes with enzyme supplements, and it is often worked out by elimination rather than by a formal test.
Why it comes up on an application
- Most intolerances carry no diagnosis, no prescription and no investigation, which is why there is often genuinely nothing to put on a form beyond the fact of it.
- The important boundary is allergy. Any reaction involving swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, breathing difficulty, or needing adrenaline is an allergy question and a far more significant entry.
- The other boundary is coeliac disease. If gluten is the food in question and you have had antibody blood tests or a biopsy, you may have a diagnosis rather than an intolerance.
- Where symptoms were investigated, the investigation counts. People with persistent digestive symptoms are often screened for coeliac disease and tested for anaemia along the way.
What we would ask you
- Which food or foods, and what happens when you eat them
- Whether you have ever had swelling, breathing difficulty or needed emergency treatment
- Whether it was formally diagnosed or worked out by avoiding the food
- Whether you were ever tested for coeliac disease
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
Three Words, Three Different Answers
Getting this right is almost the whole job on this page, and it takes one sentence once you know the difference.
An intolerance is a digestive problem. It is uncomfortable and it is not dangerous. An allergy is an immune reaction that can be dangerous, and at its most severe involves swelling of the airway and the need for adrenaline. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition diagnosed by antibody tests and biopsy, which damages the lining of the small intestine.
If you have the first, say intolerance and name the food. If you have ever had an airway reaction or carry an adrenaline pen, that is an allergy and belongs in the allergy question. If gluten is your food and you were formally tested, check whether what you actually have is coeliac disease, because that is a diagnosis rather than a preference.
Nothing To Declare Is A Real Answer
People worry that a short answer looks evasive. It does not.
If you avoid dairy because it upsets you, were never tested, take nothing for it and have never seen a doctor about it, then there is very little in your medical record about it and saying so is accurate and complete.
What would make an application incomplete is leaving out an investigation you did have, a coeliac test among them, or describing an allergy as an intolerance. Those are the two mistakes worth avoiding, and avoiding them is easy once you know they exist.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point, and an intolerance is rarely a factor in it. Where there is a history of severe allergic reaction, the application deserves a proper conversation.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and this is not one. Worth having for the risks it does cover.
Replaces earnings if illness or injury stops you working, which an intolerance does not usually do. Worth having for everything else.
Common questions
Is a food intolerance the same as an allergy?+
No. An intolerance is difficulty digesting a food and is uncomfortable rather than dangerous. An allergy is an immune reaction that can involve swelling of the airway and the need for adrenaline. They belong in different questions on a form.
Do I need to declare lactose intolerance?+
Answer what you are asked. For most people there is no diagnosis, no medication and no investigation, so there is very little in the record and saying so is a complete answer.
I avoid gluten. Is that coeliac disease?+
Not necessarily, and the distinction matters. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition diagnosed by antibody blood tests and usually a biopsy. If you were formally tested, you may have a diagnosis rather than an intolerance, and that is a different entry.
I have had a reaction with swelling. What do I put?+
That belongs in the allergy question rather than here, and it should be stated clearly. Any reaction involving swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, breathing difficulty or emergency treatment is a significant entry in a medical history.
Will a food intolerance affect my life insurance?+
It is rarely the interesting part of an application, and in any case what an insurer decides rests on your whole picture. The parts more likely to matter are any allergy history and any investigation you had for digestive symptoms.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.