Parsteiner Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Food Allergies’

Allergy is one of the most common diseases existing within our society. Many people suffer from allergies, and approximately six percent of this population is comprised of children. allergy can affect anyone at anytime. If your immune system overreacts to a foreign object that is usually harmless, histamines are released, and allergy symptoms can occur.

As a parent, your baby is one of the most important persons in the world. You feed them, you clothe them, you provide them with shelter. You must also be aware of any food allergies your baby might have. Many people suffer from allergies, and approximately six percent of this population is comprised of children.

Allergies are common nowadays, and necessary steps need to be taken to manage your child’s health. Foods are, most often, the main cause of allergies. Be aware, if you’re giving your child solid foods for the first time, be careful that the food does not cause an allergic reaction.

First of all, you have to know how allergy works in order to properly manage and detect reactions as early as possible. If you eat food that you are allergic to, the body will produce antibodies called IgE. (IgE antibodies are a type of immunoglobuin made by the body which are implicated in allergic reactions.) After ingesting the same food again, the IgE directs the immune system to produce histamines to fight off the allergens. Allergens are usually harmless but the body’s immune system will mistake it as being harmful, and proceeds to attack it. The body will produce signs and symptoms of allergy after a few minutes of ingesting the food or after about two hours of ingesting the food, because of the attack on the allergen.

Allergy symptoms can be mild or severe. Mild symptoms can produce discomfort and swelling of the skin, mouth, ears and tongue. Itchy skin rashes can also be another discomfort. Your child may also experience difficulty in breathing. In severe cases, your baby may vomit and/or have diarrhea. Be aware, if you’re giving your child solid foods for the first time, be careful that the food does not cause an allergic reaction.

If a family member is allergic to specific kinds of food, your child may also inherit the allergy. Although there are cases where your child can eat the food with no problem at all, you will notice that your baby may develop allergic signs and symptoms after eating the same food a few times. Here are some of the foods that your child may develop allergies to:

• Fish
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Shellfish
• Eggs
• Milk

If your baby is showing signs and symptoms of allergy, you should immediately call your local emergency number. This situation can cause severe discomfort to your child, in addition to life threatening.

Always remember that early detection leads to proper management and care. Your pediatrician will prepare an action plan for properly managing the allergy attack and provide allergy medications for treatment.

People who are susceptible to few or no allergies are fortunate. Most of us are allergic to something that is at the least annoying and at the most life threatening. When we come in contact with an allergen that gives us an allergic reaction it can manifest itself immediately or a few hours later.

It’s best to be aware of any acute allergy enabling you to take immediate steps to counteract any harmful effect. People with a family history of allergies, particularly those that are potentially life threatening should be extra cautious in avoiding certain foods and locales. This is especially true for children and babies.

Anaphylaxis causes death in about one thousand Americans annually. Anaphylaxis is simply a harmful allergic reaction. About 30,000 U. S. citizens suffer some sort of mild to serious anaphylactic reaction from the more than 12 million people who have a food allergy.

Allergies are signs that there’s an imbalance within the body. The symptoms tell you to either get treatment or the body will do all it can to correct the problem itself. Both children and adults endure at least a mild form of allergy.

Children lose two million school days each year due to problems with allergies. To further complicate the problem allergies can cause sleep loss, which leads to slow learning and performance. It’s the same with adults affecting their performance in the workplace.

Many allergies are attributed to food, which triggers an abnormal response in your immune system that protects your body from harmful viruses and bacteria. Food allergies are as varied as the foods you eat but there are eight foods that account for most. These include eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat and seafood, both fish and shellfish.

An allergen not often considered is a tiny dust mite. Dust mites are animal-like spiders that eat, defecate and reproduce. The life span of the male is only about 30 days but a female dust mite can live up to twice that while laying more than one hundred eggs. The main cause of allergies from dust mites is the remains left from fecal matter. Not pleasant, but mites can be found in rugs, carpeting and other areas where dust accumulates. Symptoms from dust mite allergies can be similar to that of a common cold.

Allergies to latex are becoming more commonplace. Latex is rubber derived from the sap of the rubber tree in Africa and Southeast Asia. Rubber gloves are the main source of allergic reactions occurring mainly in health care workers but reactions can also be suffered in condoms and other medical devices.

Studies have shown that you’re more likely to have a latex allergy if you’re also allergic to avocados, kiwis, chestnuts or bananas. The exact cause of the latex reaction is not known.

Most people never outgrow any allergy they might have, particularly food. The extent of harm from allergies depends on the individual but can be severe and should not be taken lightly.

Foods may cause irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms: In the U.S., most doctors have been, and continue to be, skeptical that foods cause symptoms of (IBS) and elimination of specific foods can improve these symptoms. This is despite almost 70% of people diagnosed as having IBS reporting symptoms related to specific foods. There is accumulating evidence, though still criticized because of limitations of studies that make it difficult to prove, that specific foods may be the cause of symptoms in many people labeled as having IBS.

Food intolerance testing and elimination diet based on IgG antibodies may be beneficial: Atkinson et.al. (Gut, 2004) randomized people to either an elimination diet based on elevated IgG antibody levels (YorkTest Laboratories) for specific foods or a sham diet. Those who avoided specific foods based on their IgG antibody tests had improvement in IBS symptoms (10-26% reduction) and global rating of quality of life significantly improved. Re-introducing foods for which they tested positive resulted in worsening. Zar et.al. (Am J Gastro, 2005) reported significant improvement of IBS symptoms such as pain, bloating, and alterations in bowel habits based on six month elimination of elevated food-specific IgG4 antibodies in 25 people.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is very commonly diagnosed in adults: No diagnostic tests can confirm IBS. It is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a syndrome, that is, a collection of symptoms that cannot be explained by other diseases resulting in the diagnosis of IBS. Common missed diagnoses that are blamed on IBS include lactose intolerance, Celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance, colitis, Crohn’s disease, parasite infections such as giardia, bacterial overgrowth in the intestine or alterations in gut bacteria levels and types (dysbiosis), food allergies, food intolerance, and food hypersensitivity.

Celiac disease, colitis and Crohn’s disease should be excluded before diagnosing IBS: Celiac disease, colitis and Crohn’s disease can be diagnosed or excluded by blood tests, stool tests, and biopsies of the intestine. Food allergy, intolerance and sensitivity are not only more difficult to confirm or exclude but frequently missed because of limitations of blood tests, stool tests, allergy skin tests and biopsies. Adverse food reactions have to be considered as a potential cause of the symptoms attributed to IBS.

There are common foods that cause adverse food reactions: Common foods reported by IBS sufferers, whose symptoms improve with elimination, are wheat, barley, and rye (gluten); dairy including cow’s milk protein (casein) and/or lactose (milk sugar); the legumes (peanut) and soy; yeast used to bake or brew foods; corn; shellfish and fish; nuts (almond, Brazil nut, cashew, and walnut); fruits (apple, orange, and strawberry); vegetables (celery, cabbage, and lettuce); the meats (pork, beef, and chicken); and nightshades (potato and tomato).

Individual specific and food-specific elimination diets are based on a variety of tests and a food-symptom diet diary: Elimination diets based on the common foods causing allergic reactions and non-allergic food reactions have been used for quite some time and are often prescribed with or without a food symptom diet diary. Interestingly, to my knowledge, no one has looked at approaching these people and their adverse food reactions individually, based on tests for Celiac disease, gluten intolerance or sensitivity (elevated blood gliadin IgA or IgG antibodies and/or stool gliadin IgA antibody without diagnostic blood tests or biopsy for Celiac), casein intolerance (stool IgA anti-casein antibody or blood IgG antibody), oral allergy syndrome (OAS) history and thorough food allergy testing (skin prick testing, IgE RAST or CAP RAST tests, intradermal skin testing or patch skin testing).

Specific food elimination diet trials based on such information (see the table at www.thefooddoc.com) has been helpful in my experience. Food-pollen cross reaction in OAS is well documented. A diet symptom diary combined with specific food elimination based on results of food allergy tests, food intolerance of food sensitivity tests, and known pollen allergies should be considered as a possible approach to elimination diet. This should not exclude evaluation for and treatment of established Celiac disease, lactose intolerance, dysbiosis, colitis or Crohn’s disease.

Bibliography

Atkinson W, Sheldon TA, Shaath N, Whorwell PJ. Food elimination based on IgG antibodies in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomised controlled study. Gut 2004;53:1459-1464.

Choung RS, Talley NJ. Food allergy and intolerance in IBS. Gastroenterology & Hepatology October 2006;2(10):757-760.

Zar S, Benson MJ, Kumar D. Food-specific serum IgG4 and IgE titers to common food antigens in irritable bowel syndrome. American Journal Gastroenterology 2005;100:1550-1557.

Zar S, Mincher L, Benson MJ, Kumar D. Food-specific IgG4 antibody guided exclusion diet improves symptoms and rectal compliance in irritable bowel syndrome. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. 2005;40:800-807.

Some nutritionists estimate that up to 75% of all people have undiagnosed food allergies. They may not be allergies in the way that we commonly think of them – that is, we may not sneeze or get a rash, or go into anaphylactic shock. But they are allergies all the same, if these foods provoke a negative immune response in the body. A good example is lactose intolerance – sometimes called a ‘milk allergy’. People with lactose intolerance cannot digest one of the sugars that milk contains, and milk is harmful to their bodies. They might get a stomach ache, or they might develop a problem with phlegm in the lungs, windpipe or throat. Many people have a similar allergy to wheat or other grains, or to certain vegetables.

But what does this have to do with weight loss? Studies show that food allergies are a leading cause of weight gain. When you eat foods that you are allergic to, they aren’t metabolized properly, and your body will hold onto the calories in these foods for longer, according to one theory. Also, some nutritionists feel that there is a correlation between your food allergies and the foods that you crave or binge on. Often, they are the same foods. In fact, if you eat the foods that you are allergic to, you can develop an addiction to them. Apparently, this is often the case with wheat and other carbohydrates. Apparently, there are some people who are addicted to carbohydrates and sugar – if they eat just a little bit of these foods, they will lose control, and start to eat more and more. To make matters worse, these foods are not metabolized properly by those people, so the natural result is weight gain.

In most cases like this, the underlying cause may be an allergy to wheat and other grains. If you decide to eliminate these foods entirely, it will initially be difficult – just as it’s difficult for a smoker to stop smoking, or for an alcoholic to stop drinking. Once you do it, though, you will be able to reap the benefits. You will lose your urge to binge on these and other foods, and the weight will come off much faster.

If you are trying to lose weight, therefore, it is well worth your while to find out what your food allergies are, if indeed you have any. A naturopath will be able to help you discover this information, often using a process called ‘vega testing’. This may be a little costly, but as more people are doing it, the cost is coming down. At the end of the the visit, the naturopath will give you a printout of the foods you should avoid. You may be dismayed to find that some of your ‘favorites’ are on the list – but if you are committed to your health and weight loss, give it a try. You may be surprised by how little you actually miss the foods you are allergic to once they are gone from your diet altogether.

Some people are skeptical about this process and about the whole notion that so many people are allergic to common foods. Why would so many people have this disorder? It may seem strange – even counter-intuitive. Think about the great variety of foods we eat today, though. In the past, people generally stayed in the same part of the world in which they were born, and they ate the food that was indigenous to that region. Nowadays, that’s all but impossible. For one thing, people move around a lot more. Also, food doesn’t come from the region you live in – it comes from everywhere. Every food is available to everyone all the time, and that’s very different from what it was like in the past. Therefore, there’s a much greater potential for food allergies, because there are probably foods that you eat that your ancestors never would have seen. As a result, you may not have the necessary enzymes to digest them.

You could, of course, try to eat as your ancestors did. For many of us, though our ancestors came from a variety of places, and there’s no telling which set of genetics were passed on to us. Allergy testing, on the other hand, is individual, and may well give you the answers you need.

Eosinophilic esophagitis is an inflammatory condition of the esophagus or feeding tube that is characterized by the abnormal presence of eosinophils (a type of white blood cell involved in allergic reactions) in the lining of the esophagus. Eosinophils are thought to migrate to the esophagus in response to foods that trigger an allergic response. The most common foods reported are milk, egg, soy, corn, wheat, beef, chicken, potato, oats, peanuts, turkey, barley, pork, rice, green beans, apples, pineapple, tree nuts and seafood.

Interestingly these very foods cause the majority of food allergies and food sensitivities or intolerance and are foods that contain many of the lectins that are suspected of causing problems in the gut, joints, skin and the brain. Restriction of these foods frequently improve symptoms in the gut and outside the gut in many people. If specific foods identified by allergy testing can be avoided improvement is usually noted. However, the symptoms and signs of eosinophilic esophagitis frequently, if not usually, return after stopping steroids unless accompanied by dietary manipulation that includes elimination of problem foods.

When food allergy testing is negative or equivocal, elimination diet may be the only way to determine what food or foods may be causing ongoing or recurrent eosinophilic esophagitis. Strict elimination diet has been most effective but is difficult to follow long term for most adults and children. More recently, Kagalwalla published success with a six food elimination diet (SFED) in children with eosinophilic esophagitis. The SFED restricted foods from six of the most common food allergens. The SFED eliminated cow’s milk protein (casein), soy, wheat, egg, peanut/tree nuts, and seafood. This SFED was compared with an elemental diet (ELED), that consists of proteins broken down into simple forms in a liquid, such as what protein intolerant infants are fed. Such a diet is expensive, tastes poor and is not well received.

In this particular study it was noted that though the SFED was not quite as effective (74% versus 88% achieving significant improvement), the six food elimination diet has better acceptance, cost and likelihood of people complying with the diet. I would point out that the SFED is actually not a six food elimination diet. Not only are more than six food categories eliminated (peanuts are legumes and separate from tree nuts) but much more than six foods are eliminated considering there a multiple nuts and seafood. Processed foods containing any known or suspected foods must also be eliminated during an elimination diet.

The helpfulness of a diet symptom diary prior to an elimination diet is that sometimes it is difficult to identify problem foods and relate their elimination and re-introduction to various symptoms. Various simple diet diaries exist in print form and online formats that can be printed out to record manually foods eaten and symptoms noted. However, an online diet diary that provides an ongoing tracking of diet and symptoms as well as feedback does not exist, especially those customized according to an individual’s health history.