Bernie Noe, ND

Naturopathic Physician

Take the Natural Route to Better Health

Food Allergies: A Hidden Source of Illness

Food Allergies are a common condition in which the immune system reacts to certain foods in the same way that it reacts to bacteria and viruses, namely by producing antibodies.  Food allergies can be immediate and life threatening, as in the case of someone who eats a strawberry and can’t breathe, or they can be delayed and much less severe but nevertheless cause significant problems.  The vast majority of people who have food allergies, many of whom don’t know it,  have the less serious type of reaction.

The foods that people most commonly become allergic to are dairy and wheat, although peanuts, corn, soy, and citrus fruits are also quite common food allergens.  The list of foods that a person can become allergic to, however, includes everything that he or she eats.  Ironically it is actually the foods that a person eats most frequently that he or she is most likely to be allergic to.  This is because food allergies lead to a type of food addiction where eating the food can in some ways make a person feel better, while avoiding the food can lead to withdrawal symptoms.

The reason that many people aren’t aware that they have food allergies is because the allergic reaction can take up to two days to occur after eating the allergic food.  This makes it very difficult to associate the symptoms of an allergic reaction to a particular food.  The other difficulty is that food allergies can cause a very wide variety of symptoms beyond just the hives or anaphylactic shock that many people are aware of.  While digestive complaints such as abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea are widely associated with food allergies, other symptoms such as fatigue, hyperactivity, obesity, and post nasal drip commonly occur.  Food allergies can also be an underlying cause of many diseases, including asthma, eczema, arthritis, ear infections, sinusitis, migraine headaches, inflammatory bowel disease, and depression.  While estimates of the prevalence of food allergies varies widely, a recent study published in Annals of Allergy found for example that 78% of childhood ear infections are associated with food allergies.

There are many different options when it comes to diagnosing food allergies.  The most commonly used tests include skin prick tests, blood antibody testing, and allergy elimination/challenge tests.

Skin prick tests, while widely used by dermatologists to diagnose respiratory allergies, are not an accurate way to test for food allergies except in the case of the immediate, life threatening type of reaction.  As mentioned previously, the majority of people with food allergies do not have this type of reaction.

Blood antibody testing, which  is much more accurate than skin prick testing, involves testing a sample of the persons blood with a variety of different foods in the laboratory.  A report is then produced which lists the amount of antibody found for each of the foods tested.  The disadvantage of this type of test is that a limited number of foods are tested (usually 80-200 foods), which may or may not include all of the foods that a person is allergic to.

The third type of testing, the elimination/challenge test, is the most accurate, albeit the most difficult to do.  This test involves eliminating all potentially allergic foods for a period of time, usually two weeks, and then challenging oneself with these foods one at a time.   For this test to be effective, all allergic foods must be eliminated and the food challenges must be spaced adequately far apart.  If done properly, a person will feel better after eliminating the allergic foods for 5-7 days, and then feel worse within 1-2 days of challenging with the suspect food.

Complete avoidance of the allergic foods is the most effective way to treat food allergies. This can be very difficult for a person who is allergic to things such as dairy and wheat which make up a large part of most American diets.  Fortunately there are many hypoallergenic alternatives now available for these foods, and numerous dairy and wheat free cookbooks are also available.  The good news is that these foods don’t need to be given up forever.  Most people are able to tolerate their allergic foods on an occasional or rotation basis after giving their immune system 3-6 months to calm down.

Rotation diets are a good way of preventing food allergies from developing in the first place, and are the best way to reintroduce foods for those who have been on an elimination diet.  One of the primary reasons that people develop food allergies is from eating the same foods day in and day out.  It is no coincidence that dairy and wheat, the most common foods in the American diet, are also the most common food allergens.  Rotation diets solve this problem by cycling foods through the diet every 4-5 days.  A person allergic to dairy, for example, could only eat dairy once every 4-5 days.

There are also a number of underlying conditions which can promote the development of food allergies, including poor digestion, a “leaky gut” which allows too many intact food proteins to be absorbed into the blood stream, and chronic intestinal infections by yeast, bacteria, or parasites.  Correcting these underlying problems is crucial to healing the food allergies.

Two natural supplements that can be especially useful in helping to heal food allergies are quercetin and omega 3 oils.  Examples of omega 3 oils are flaxseed oil and fish oil.  These natural products have potent anti-allergic properties in the gut, and therefore help to reduce allergic sensitivity when used in conjunction with an allergy elimination diet.

While elimination and rotation diets may seem overwhelming at first, there are a wealth of resources available to help.  Most people quickly get the hang of it, and the improvement in the way they feel makes it all worth it.  To find out if you have food allergies, see a naturopathic physician trained in the diagnosis and treatment of food allergies.