By Dr. Mercola
Many people think food allergies cause a bit of stomach upset
or a skin rash, not realizing that for a growing number of the
population, food allergies can be deadly.
I’m Not Nuts: Living With Food Allergies is a
documentary that sheds some light on this rising issue through
interviews with families that are directly affected.
While it’s widely accepted that a bee sting can cause
anaphylaxis, a type of severe allergic reaction that can be
deadly, stings cause about 40 US deaths a year compared to 100
deaths from food. In fact, food is the most common trigger for
anaphylaxis.1
When Food Turns Deadly
As Dr. Ben Song of the Allergy & Immunology Associates of Ann
Arbor explained in the film, there may be a generational gap
that’s causing the seriousness of food allergies to often be
downplayed as, quite simply, deadly food allergies were a rarity
just 40 or 50 years ago.
Yet today an estimated one out of every 13 children has a
food allergy,2
and the incidence is increasing. From 1997 to 2007, food
allergies increased 18 percent among children under 18 years,3
and according to UK data, hospitalizations for food allergy
increased by 500 percent from 1990 to 2006.4
In the US, about 90,000 people visit the emergency room due to
food allergies every year.5
Often, the allergy is to a very commonly eaten food. In the
US, the following eight foods account for 90 percent of all
food-allergic reactions, though, as Dr. Song explained, other
foods, such as sesame seeds and legumes, are becoming more
frequent allergens as well.
Peanuts |
Tree nuts |
Fish |
Shellfish |
Soy |
Wheat |
Milk |
Eggs |
Identifying Symptoms is Difficult, Especially in Young Children
Sometimes a food allergy occurs the first time a new food is
eaten. Other times you can develop an allergy literally
overnight to a food you’ve eaten your entire life. In the
featured film, one woman described the swelling and tightness in
her throat that suddenly appeared after she ate a tuna sandwich
– a food she’d long enjoyed.
Another parent watched her 1-year-old daughter scratch her
hands almost to the point of bleeding after giving her a piece
of birthday cake, only to later find out she had an egg allergy.
Many parents will understandably confuse frequent crying due
to allergies with signs of hunger in their babies, leading them
to feed more of the allergenic food, such as milk. This causes a
vicious cycle of more symptoms and more crying until the real
culprit is uncovered.
When you’re allergic to a substance, your immune system
mistakenly believes it is dangerous and produces immunoglobulin
E (IgE) antibodies in an attempt to neutralize it. Chemicals
such as histamine released into your bloodstream during this
process can lead to a battery of symptoms any time you eat the
food (although symptoms may not appear until hours later). These
include:
Tingling or itching in your mouth |
Hives |
Itching |
Eczema |
Swelling anywhere in your body, especially your lips,
face, tongue and throat |
Wheezing and trouble breathing |
Abdominal pain |
Diarrhea |
Nausea and vomiting |
Fainting and dizziness |
Anaphylaxis (tightening of airways, swelling in your
throat, difficulty breathing) |
Nasal congestion |
Making matters even more difficult, food allergies can
actually result in all sorts of reactions, from
headache, to sneezing, to rashes, to swollen joints. Or they
may result in psoriasis, or cause eczema to flare up.
What’s Causing So Many Food Allergies?
There is no complete answer for why certain people have
allergies, although both genetic and environmental factors
likely play a role. Though not discussed in the film, low levels
of vitamin D have
been associated with an increased risk of food allergies,6
while some theorize that food additives, genetic modification,
hormones and herbicides added to foods may be triggering some
cases. Genetic engineering, for instance, can increase existing
allergens, or produce new, unknown allergens. Both appear to
have happened in
genetically modified (GM) soy, which is found in the
majority of processed foods. Leading GMO expert Jeffrey
Smith explained:
“Levels of one known soy allergen, trypsin inhibitor,
were up to seven times higher in cooked GM soy compared to
cooked non-GM soy. Another study discovered a unique,
unexpected protein in GM soy, likely to trigger allergies.
In addition, of eight human subjects who had a skin-prick
(allergy-type) reaction to GM soy, one did not also react to
non-GM soy, suggesting that GM soy is uniquely dangerous.
…Documents made public from a lawsuit revealed that
FDA scientists were uniformly concerned that GM foods might
create hard-to-detect allergies, toxins, new diseases, and
nutritional problems. Their urgent requests for required
long-term feeding studies fell on deaf ears. The FDA doesn’t
require a single safety test.”
So we’ve got various foreign substances being added to our
food supply, any number of which have the potential to trigger
allergic reactions. At the same time, more children are being
born and raised with severely damaged gut flora, which is
largely the product of poor diet and antibiotics overuse,
leading to
Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS).
Gut Flora May Play a Major Role in Food Allergies
Abnormalities in your immune system—such as allergies and
autoimmune diseases—are a common outcome of GAPS, as about 85
percent of your immune system is located in your gut. When your
gut flora is abnormal, your gut lining begins to deteriorate,
since it is actively maintained by your gut flora. The
beneficial bacteria in your gut make sure the cells that line
your entire digestive tract are healthy, well-fed, and protected
from chemical or microbial attacks. But as your gut lining
deteriorates, the junctions between the cells open up, causing
your gut to become porous, or “leaky.” According to Dr. Natasha
Campbell-McBride, who discovered GAPS:
“It becomes like a sieve, and foods don’t get the
chance to be digested properly before they are absorbed.
They’re absorbed in this maldigested or partially broken
down form. When the immune system and the bloodstream finds
them and looks at them, it doesn’t recognize them as food.
It says, 'You’re not food. I don’t recognize you,' and it
reacts to them. It creates immune complexes, which attack
these partially digested proteins. As a result, we’ll get
all sorts of symptoms in your body.”
The answer to resolving food allergies, as well as virtually
all autoimmune disorders, is to heal and seal your intestines,
which the GAPS nutritional program is designed to do. If you
have severe food allergies, the
GAPS Introduction Diet, which uses fermented foods and other
natural strategies to restore balance to your gut flora, may
help heal your food allergy completely.
Provocation Neutralization Treatment for Allergies
I highly recommend the
GAPS “heal and seal” approach outlined here for resolving
food allergies, but another option to consider is Provocation
neutralization (PN) allergy testing and treatment, which offers
many allergy sufferers permanent relief without adverse side
effects. The success rate for this approach is about 80 to 90
percent, and you can receive the treatment at home. I offered
this effective treatment for many years in my office.
The provocation refers to "provoking a change" and
neutralization refers to "neutralizing the reaction caused by
provocation." During provocation-neutralization, a small amount
of allergen is injected under your skin to produce a small bump
called a "wheal" on the top layers of your skin, and then it is
monitored for a reaction. If you have a positive reaction, such
as fatigue, headache, or a growth in the size of the wheal, then
the allergen is neutralized with diluted injections or with
drops that go in your mouth of the same allergen.
If you want to see some actual videos of provocation
neutralization being done, see Dr. Doris Rapp's website,
www.DorisRappMD.com.
It is important to remember that the PN program is in
addition to, not a replacement for, a comprehensive allergy
recovery program, which should include
optimizing your diet, intestinal health and vitamin D levels
while avoiding potential triggers.
Avoidance is Key if You’re Living With a Food Allergy
Avoidance of the allergic foods will be key to preventing
potentially deadly reactions. As explained in the documentary,
simple hand washing can be crucial to this, especially among
children who can easily get food allergens on their hands
through direct contact with other kids. Label reading is another
necessary precaution that anyone with a food allergy must take.
The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, which
took effect in January 2006, requires that food manufacturers
list any of the top eight food allergens used in their products
on the label. However, general terms like “natural flavors” and
“spices” can contain hidden allergens, like sesame, forcing
those with severe food allergies to devote countless hours
calling food manufacturers to find out what’s really in their
products.
Eating in restaurants can also be nearly impossible, unless
you go to the restaurant ahead of time and ask the manager if an
allergen-free meal can be safely created. The solution is to
drastically
reduce
your family’s reliance on processed food and restaurants,
instead choosing whole foods in as close to their natural state
as possible, which you prepare at home. This will dramatically
reduce the risk of exposure to hidden allergens, while providing
superior nutrition at the same time.
Support Groups for Those Living With Food Allergies
If you or your child has a food allergy, sharing your
experiences and advice with others in the same situation can be
invaluable. The Food Allergy Research & Education Web site has a
tool to help you find a support group in your area.7
Other support groups mentioned in the film include Circle of
Food Allergic Families (COFAF),8
a parent-run support group to support families as they face the
daily challenges of managing food allergies.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.