Suffer from Food Allergies?
Food allergies are present in 20 – 60% of Americans and in many instances are associated with the development and maintenance of a wide variety of chronic diseases. Antigens on the allergen, be it food, pollen or animal dander, stimulates the release of immune antibodies that bind to the allergen, attracting white blood cells which secretes chemicals like histamine and other mediators of inflammation. These chemicals can have far reaching effects in many body systems and can cause all kinds of diseases including inflammation and pain, digestive, nervous system, respiratory tract, skin diseases and many others. Allergy testing is especially important in cases of delayed reaction to foods where symptoms develop only after several days of exposure to the allergen. This IgG reaction often happens to ubiquitous foods like wheat, corn and eggs and is extremely difficult to identify without a thorough diagnostic test. IgE reactions are more concerning in nature in that they can cause symptoms minutes after exposure and can be quite severe and even life threatening. These are easier to diagnose by taking a careful history.
Proof of the important role allergies play in disease causation is in observing how effectively many disease processes are stopped or even reversed once allergens are identified and avoided. In rheumatoid arthritis alone, it is documented that major symptom relief occurs in up to 55% of sufferers upon eliminating wheat and gluten only from the diet. Irritable bowel syndrome also responds very well to a diet that is first of all high in fiber, but also does not include foods that the body is sensitive to. Many patients find relief from their digestive symptoms once they have identified and implemented a hypoallergenic diet.
GERD and heartburn can also be treated by simply identifying and eliminating allergens in many cases. A lot of the time patients can very easily discontinue their prescriptions of Nexium, Protonix or other acid suppressing prescription. The most common diagnostic tests used measure for IgE and IgG immune system component reactions to specific foods. These tests are very effective at detecting specific immune sensitization and help define the parameters of someone’s sensitivity and also what the treatment program will look like in terms of food avoidance and a rotation diet (a diet that includes a wide variety of foods that are changed on a weekly program to avoid increased exposure and sensitization to a specific food or food group).
Non immune based testing methods that measure total body response to allergens are useful to identify your food and other allergies, but many of them are only as good as the tester. People that are highly trained in scientifically establishing reproducible results can be very accurate at identifying specific sensitivities. These energetic tests can also help identify other factors that play a role in allergen mediated immune derangement like parasites and microorganisms in the digestive tract, organ hypo function and how this relates to specific foods and other factors. Allergy testing generally costs between $120 and $600 depending on the number of foods, drinks, pollens and other allergens tested. In light of the fact that allergens are very effective at fueling so many disease processes, it is a much sounder decision to invest time and resources into removing a few foods or to avoid some chemicals than to spend hundreds of dollars for pharmaceuticals to treat disease symptoms. This is only the beginning though, as you can work with your doctor at strengthening the integrity of the allergen-immune-system-interface through focused patterns of nutrition and supplementation.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Excellent info! Thank you very much. I love your approach of finding out the root cause and preventing the allergies rather than just using drugs to treat the symptoms.