Food allergy

FOOD ALLERGY/FOOD INTOLERANCE

Most of us pass our entire lives dealing with health problems and we cannot find the answer to them. Our health problems derive mostly from what we eat and what is in contact with our bodies. Our bodies have several reactions in order to protect themselves from harming substances and tell us in several ways.

            Allergy and food intolerance are consequences of some reactions of our bodies to certain foods and the environment that surrounds us.

According to professor Jonathan Brostoff in “The complete guide to food allergy and intolerance”, allergy is an adverse reaction to all the external things that can affect the body, whether in food or water, in the air we breathe, or in the things that come into contact with our skin.

He believes that food allergies can be provoked by quite small amounts of the food - much larger quantities are needed to provoke the symptoms of food intolerance. Those with food intolerance tend to collect more and more new symptoms as the years go by, and become intolerant of more and more foods.

He says that food Intolerance is any adverse reaction to food. This does not exclude the possibility of immune reactions being involved in some way, but they are unlikely to be the major factor producing the symptoms.

Food aversion means dislike and avoidance of a food for psychological reasons.

            In his opinion an important aspect of food intolerance is that the symptoms are not constant- they tend to come and go and vary in severity. Other factors may play an important part, particularly stress, which can greatly increase the symptoms.

He also says that one of the most curious facets of food intolerance is that the person concerned often has a craving for the particular food or foods that cause the problem.

            The cause of food intolerance has not yet been fully discovered, although there are many existing theories and ideas.

There is no single, straightforward mechanism behind all types of food intolerance.

It takes several factors working together to produce symptoms of food intolerance.

Every patient has different symptoms of illness and progress - each person has a unique combination of circumstances leading up to that illness.

The symptoms of food intolerance in our bodies according to professor Jonathan Brostoff

 The digestive system – this is the front- line as far as food is concerned, many of the symptoms of food intolerance occur here.

Mouth Ulcers – a mouth ulcer is an area where the top surface of the mouth produces a small “crater”. Mouth ulcers are painful, especially when acidic fruits or spicy foods are eaten. Some vitamin and mineral deficiencies can also produce this symptom.

Nausea and indigestion – these can result by unwise eating habits, eating too much, eating to quickly, and eating when you are anxious, excited, angry, upset or tense, eating standing up, eating late at night, or having too much rich food. Food intolerance can cause nausea and indigestion, although this is rarely the sole symptom. If the food affects the stomach in this way, normally it also affects the digestive system as a whole. Usually diarrhoea or other bowel symptoms occur.

Heartburn –Usually caused by the contents of the stomach, which are acidic, welling up into the oesophagus (tube that leads from the mouth to the stomach). Some foods are known to widen the oesophageal sphincter and contribute to the problem of the heartburn. These include peppermint and spearmint, alcohol, coffee and chocolate. Fatty meals also increase the amount of reflux from the stomach.  Tea and milk stimulate the stomach lining to produce acid and so make the stomach contents more acid. Finally, foods that directly irritate the oesophagus on their way down to the stomach (notably chilli and other hot spices, orange, lemon and grapefruit juices, and concentrated tomato products should be avoided if symptoms persist

Stomach (gastric) ulcers – a stomach ulcer is a crater-like area where the upper layer of the stomach lining is missing. The main symptom is a burning pain that extends across the chest and upper abdomen. Whether food intolerance can ever produce stomach ulcers has not yet been confirmed. There are cases of patients who have recovered remarkably well on an elimination diet.

Duodenal ulcers – these are very similar to stomach ulcers, but occur in the first part of the small intestine the duodenum. The main symptom is pain, several hours after eating. Duodenal ulcers normally result from excessive acid production in the stomach. They seem to be linked to wine spirits, eating a lot of pickled food, refined carbohydrates, like sugar and white flour.

Diarrhoea - in food intolerance, there is a specific reaction to one or more foods, which in most people do not result in diarrhoea. If caused by food intolerance it is likely to be fairly mild, although with occasional more strong attacks, perhaps in response to a change in diet, or to stress.

Constipation – is a feeling of bloating and discomfort, of wanting to go and not being able to, of straining or incomplete evacuation. Whether food intolerance can ever be a cause of constipation, as some doctors believe, is still being studied.

Irritable bowel syndrome (Crohn’s disease) – a serious bowel disorder that produces patches of inflammation in the intestines. Although many studies have been made, doctors still have no clear idea of what produces Crohn’s disease. Some patients have managed to recover on an elimination diet, but this diet must be done under medical observation.

Aching joints – food intolerance can cause aching joints in some people. Normally, the most heavily used joints, such as the knees, that are afflicted first, but it may later spread to other joints. Studies have found that some patients respond positively to an elimination diet.

Rheumatoid arthritis – is characterized by painful, swollen joints that feel warm on the touch and are often stiff.

The idea that food intolerance can play an important part in causing rheumatoid arthritis is not widely defended among rheumatologists. Some patients, however, lost their symptoms entirely on an elimination diet. How food intolerance might influence the inflammation in joints is still unknown.

 Migraine – generally described as a severe headache, usually restricted to one side of the head and is often accompanied by nausea and a dislike of loud noises and bright lights. The role of food intolerance to migraine is hotly debated. Some believe that certain foods (chocolate, cheese etc) can act as triggers but that commonly eaten foods, such as wheat and milk are unlikely to play an important part in migraine.

Good results have been obtained by using elimination diets to treat migraine sufferers. 

Mind and body – chemical sensitivity and food intolerance can produce a wide range of mental problems. The most common are anxiety and depression, but much more serious illnesses, including psychosis and schizophrenia, have also been attributed to food.

 Food in the wild 

Professor Jonathan believes that most doctors have the idea that food as long as it is part of a balanced diet cannot be bad. But they often forget that some of our foods were not designed specifically for human consumption, they were gathered from wild plants and animals that were domesticated by the first farmers.

In his opinion in the wild, most food items have to struggle for existence. They do not want to be eaten, so their defence is based partly on thorns and prickles, but there is also an existence of invisible chemical weapons that pervade almost all plant tissues. Some of these simply taste bad; others cause vomiting or other ill effects.

Nuts are rather more generous to their animal partners. They rely on animals such as squirrels to disperse the seed. This is done when they plant them in several places, when creating their winter stores. They inevitably forget where some are planted, a proportion of the nuts survive and grow into trees.

Both nuts and fruits have a major problem to contend with, despite these cunning stratagems. There are many other living things that would like to eat them without providing any service in return, these range from small animals, that might nibble away at the fruit without dispersing it, to bacteria and fungi that would rot the nut as it lies in the soil.

Although most foods do not want to be eaten, there are exceptions to the rule in the form of fruits and nuts. These contain the seeds of the plant and they rely on animals eating them to disperse the seed. The wild version of a fruit such as an apricot consists of a juicy, sweetish layer on the outside; with which the plant tempts the birds and other animals, inside is the seed, which is protected by a hard kernel or stone. The idea is that the animal eats the fruit, but that the seed passes through its gut to the outside and is expelled with the animal’s droppings, some distance away from the parent plant.

The seed itself is highly nutritious – it contains all the food the animal will need to become established so the plant must guard its seeds well. Toxins deter animals that might be tempted to break the apricot stone open and eat the seeds. As a final safeguard, the parent plant adds a chemical to the outer skin of the fruit that affects the animal’s gut. It speeds up the movement of the gut, making it void the stone more rapidly, so that the damage done by the digestive juices is minimised. This is why so many fruits have a laxative effect.

 A range of chemicals are present to keep these creatures away many of them being selective toxins that affect upon one type of creature but not another.

Professor Jonathan defends that it is clear that there is a massive chemical arsenal in wild food, even in the foods that want to be eaten. In the course of our evolution, we have challenged ourselves in eating these chemicals.

The domestication of several crops increased their consumption in the human diet. According to some researches this was not favourable to humans has we were not used to eat such quantities of starch. For others the main point is that we are eating chemical “armaments” found in these crops.

The adaptation to wheat has been very slow has it is a relatively new food. It is believed that wheat proteins reduce the absorption of starch in many people. When starch is unabsorbed it goes to feed bacteria in the gut, causing an amount of unwanted bacteria.

This can explain why wheat sensitivity is so common. Other foods besides cereals are a possible source of toxic or damaging chemicals.

It is believed by professor Jonathan that the natural foods we eat are full of potentially damaging chemicals plants in particular, have defensive substances. Human are well equipped to detoxify these natural chemicals, with a powerful array of enzymes. However, the initial products of the enzyme reactions are sometimes more toxic than the original chemical. This means that the body’s detoxification enzymes have evolved to deal with a certain range of naturally occurring chemicals although they can work on synthetic ones. But on the way to breaking them down they may produce reactions that are harmful. For this reason, such changes are known as biotransformation rather than detoxification.

Several studies point out that there is a link between chemical sensitivity and enzyme deficiency and that certain artificial colourings have been found to inhibit crucial detoxification enzymes.

Most of the vitamins are enzyme cofactors, and some doctors believe that the lack of vitamins can make people more sensitive to environmental chemicals.

Chemical Sensitivity

It is professor’s Jonathan opinion that patients with chemical sensitivity have reactions that differ from the reactions mentioned above. Mental and behavioural symptoms are very common with chemicals. Depression, excessive sleepiness, severe mental confusion, uncontrollable anger and clumsy behaviour are reactions that occur mostly in this area.

The chemical sensitivity referred to in this area is synthetic chemicals – those that do not occur in nature.

Synthetic chemicals come into our bodies by three main forms – by mouth, through the nose and lungs and through the skin. It is assumed by researches that chemical sensitivity is a deficiency in the enzymes that detoxify foreign chemicals. This assumes that the affected person makes antibodies to the synthetic chemical concerned, or responds with some other inappropriate and damaging immune reaction.

Some synthetic chemicals are excreted from our bodies unchanged- in urine, for example, or on our breath when we exhale. Some such are stored unchanged in the body’s fatty tissues. The majority are worked by enzymes, which change them chemically in biotransformation reactions. Ultimately, these reactions lead to the detoxification of the chemical.

In order to avoid chemical allergy professor Jonathan advises to:

Reduce chemical exposure;

Cigarette smoke;

Household chemicals;

Perfumes and cosmetics;

Water pollutants;

Food additives;

Pesticide residues;

Viral infections

Viruses themselves might also play a part in food intolerance. They can alter immune responses in subtle ways.

Viruses in the gut could alter the structure of the gut wall, simply by binding to it’s cells- they might even do this without causing any noticeable signs of infection.

Such viruses could make the gut wall more leaky for a while by changing its structure.

Some patients with food intolerance have cravings for the food or foods that make them ill, and each such food to excess. Addictive eating is an aspect of food intolerance that does nothing to improve its medical credibility- yet it cannot be ignored.

How our bodies react to external substances?

According to professor Jonathan antibodies are special molecules produced by the body to fight infections. They can block infection in several ways. With viruses, they may be able to prevent them from invading the body’s cells simply by binding them. With bacteria, however, antibodies alone are ineffectual. They need help to defeat the bacteria and their job is to act as signals to other cells and molecules in the body, which have the power to kill.

Antibodies are protein molecules, as are many of the important, hardworking      components of the body. Proteins are infinitely variable molecules and this is what makes them so useful. In the case of the antibodies, their versatility is employed in making molecules that bind specifically to a particular target molecule, or antigen, and to no other.

The body produces many antibodies so that if it has to combat a new bacteria or virus it is certain to find an antibody “ in stock” that is just right for it. Special factory cells produce the antibodies and each cell produces its own particular form of antibody.

Professor Jonathan believes that there is no reason why the immune system should not attack food molecules just as enthusiastically as it attacks invading germs – after all food is chemically different from our own bodies.

Recently it has been discovered that stressful events can make the immune cells far less responsive to infection. Even something as simple as taking an exam can make us more vulnerable to infection.

Inflammation, produced by immune attack, can make the gut wall more leaky. One source of inflammation is disease- any gut infection that produces diarrhoea may inflame the gut wall. In babies, such infections are often the start of food intolerance.

Antigens and allergens

Professor Jonathan describes an antigen as any molecule that can provoke the body into producing antibodies to it. To do this the molecule must be above certain size, because the B cells and their colleagues in the immune system are programmed to ignore very small molecules. Simple chemical molecules, such as water or salt cannot act as antigens.

One major group of antigens are proteins, which are widespread in all living things. The chemical variety of proteins makes them good antigens.

The other potential sources of antigens in food, apart from the proteins, are small molecules such as phenols, amines and carotenoids. Some of these give the food its colour and flavour, others are there to deter animals from feeding on that food, or prevent it being attacked by bacteria and fungi. The majority of theses small molecules are natural compounds, but artificial colours, flavours and preservatives greatly increase the number present in modern food.

An allergen is essentially the same thing as an antigen, except that it happens to cause an allergic reaction in a particular person. The main difference between an antigen and an allergen is not in the molecule itself but in the way the individual’s immune system reacts to it.

 How to test food intolerance?

In professor Jonathan’s opinion the link between food and symptoms is unlikely to be made when the body is subjected to a constant bombardment with the food.

For him the standard test used for diagnosing food intolerance is the elimination diet, in which all or most of the commonly eaten foods are avoided for a period of one to three weeks.

The diet consists in two parts. First you avoid any food that might be causing trouble and see if the symptoms clear up - exclusion phase. If the symptoms do disappear, then foods are reintroduced, one at a time, to discover which ones produce the symptoms - reintroduction phase. This diet must be strictly followed by medical observation.

The patient often feels a great deal worse initially, but then recovers fairly spectacularly on the sixth or seventh day.

The purpose of the elimination diet is to ask your body questions about the foods it has to cope with, and give it a chance to tell you which ones make it ill. In order to hear the answers you need a period of silence.

The classical allergic disease.

The classic allergic diseases are hay fever, perennial rhinitis, asthma, urticaria, atopic eczema and immediate onset food allergy.

To avoid dangerous situations once the allergic food is known it must be fully avoided. It is important to always ask when eating out the composition of the food in question and reading labels as well. It is important to learn the chemical names that are behind a certain food and when suspicious about a certain food it should be eaten in a small amount until you are sure it is safe to eat.

People who are sensitive to peanuts should be always aware to anything eaten because peanuts are easily disguised in many foods and compositions.

Researches and some doctors who have been treating people with food intolerance and chemical sensitivity believe that such sensitivity can produce a wide range of mental problems. The most common are anxiety and depression, but many more serious illnesses, including psychosis and schizophrenia, have also been attributed to food.

The mind has the power to produce health, as well as illness. Some allergic symptoms may affect the brain and cause mental problems, these being secondary to the allergic response itself.

Biological research has presently been studding the relationships between the immune system, the nervous system and the hormones.

Among the discoveries there is the fact that stressful events can make the immune cells far less responsive to infection.

Preventing food sensitivity

Some doctors defend that food intolerance and allergy may run in the family. Nevertheless this does not mean that the illness cannot be avoided. In food allergy, the environment is important, especially in the first year of life. The child inherits a predisposition to allergy. The kind of conditions the child finds after and maybe even before birth will decide whether it will develop allergy or not. In the case of food intolerance the prevention is not so easy but some cautions may be taken.

If one of the parents has allergic symptoms probably the child will also be predisposed to it. If both parents have allergies the probability increases. But predicting these factors with babies is not very easy.

Measures to avoid allergy according to professor Jonathan

Don’t eat too much of any food while pregnant.

Try to give up smoking and avoid smoking in the house.

Breast-feed for the first year if possible. Give nothing but breast milk for the first 4-6 months.

While breast-feeding, avoid eating foods that are likely to cause allergic reactions like milk, eggs, peanuts, fish, citrus fruits (oranges, lemons etc, wheat beef and chicken.

For the first year, have no furred pets, keep dust to a minimum and keep the house free from moulds.

Avoid unnecessary surgery during the first year of life.

Professor Jonathan defends that a baby’s immune system is not fully developed at birth. To protect it against infection in the first few months of life, a mother’s milk contains antibodies and viruses, and the baby’s gut is leaky to allow these antibodies through into the bloodstream. Because the gut is so permeable, undigested food molecules also get into the blood in far greater quantity than in an older child or adult.

Any food that the baby eats or drinks during the first three months of life will be absorbed into the bloodstream in appreciable quantities.

He believes that a bottle –fed baby, or one that receives solids before three months of age, is exposed to large quantities of foreign proteins entering the bloodstream, and there is a possibility that these can cause allergic reactions.

Proteins from the mother’s food can be absorbed intact from her gut and pass into her breast milk.

 He advises that when new foods are introduced they must be carefully chosen avoiding high potential allergic foods and introducing low potential allergic foods.

The main problem foods according to researches are eggs, milk, fish, peanuts, wheat, rye, barley, nuts, soya, citrus fruits and chocolate. 

Because food molecules pass into breast milk, it is important for the mother to watch what she eats while breast-feeding. She should avoid eggs, cow’s milk peanuts and fish and should restrict her alcohol intake.

The more allergens a baby is exposed to during the first year of life, the more likely it is to develop allergies. The major domestic allergens are house-dust mite, moulds, and particles of animal skin.