Food Allergies & Intolerances

Food Allergies & Intolerances

Food allergies/hypersensitivities are becoming a more common chronic disease in the United States. True food allergies affect 5-8% of children and 1-3% of adults. Food allergies and hypersensitivities occur when your immune system overreacts to specific foods.

Food intolerances, by contrast, are abnormal reactions like allergies but with no immune response produced by the body. Most reactions to foods are caused, not by allergies, but by food intolerances. Food intolerances can cause a wide variety of symptoms - from low back pain to irritable bowel to migraine headaches.

Everyone has heard of lactose intolerance. Any other food can create the same reaction as lactose. It is the same as lactose, except it's intolerance to wheat, soy or corn.

Food intolerance came about because, for the last 30 years, doctors worldwide have been reporting countless cases of reactions to foods, but no antibodies were found. Patients reported a wide range of symptoms after eating certain foods, but upon allergy testing, no immune response was reported. Sherry Rogers, MD, says "food intolerance is one of the least diagnosed and most prevalent causes of symptoms."

Intolerances can be triggered by almost any foods and they can do almost anything to any part of the body. Another problem with food intolerances is that the symptom might not show up for 2 or 3 days after a food is eaten. So detecting these types of problems can be difficult.

Since there is no immune response, a blood test for antibodies is useless in these cases. Stool and urine testing is also useless because the body does not produce any markers to let you know that intolerance is the cause of your problem. Only Muscle Response Testing is sensitive, accurate and reliable enough to discover these difficult problems.

What can food intolerances cause?

Think of a symptom or disease and food intolerance can be at the bottom of it. Consider this list of known symptoms from food intolerances:  bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis, severe pain mimicking ruptured discs, sciatica, tendonitis, osteoarthritis, joint pain, muscle weakness, Lupus, Meniere's Disease, recurrent cystitis or bladder symptoms, prostatitis, kidney disorders, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, gastric and peptic and duodenal ulcers, irritable bowel, recurrent abdominal pain, gallbladder attacks, GERD, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, ADHD, learning disabilities, cognitive and emotional symptoms such as changes in the ability to concentrate, memory or mood changes, depression, anxiety, headache including migraine, seizures, convulsions, muscle tightness, numbness, tingling, general weakness, fatigue, insomnia, diabetes, recurrent inflammations or infections, chronic fatigue syndrome, itching, eczema, atopic dermatitis, rashes, hives, dandruff, unsteadiness or sensation loss in hands and feet, high blood pressure, conjunctivitis, nasal or sinus congestion, wheezing, repetitive coughing, bronchitis, asthma, throat constriction, metabolic acidosis, otitis media, canker sores, changes in heart rate, angina, hormonal dysregulation (PMS, cramping menopausal symptoms) and more.

This is not to say that food intolerances cause all disease, BUT they contribute to a whole lot of symptoms. In our office we find food intolerances in almost every chronic condition. Even low back pain can have a food intolerance that is keeping the low back inflamed. One case I had was a woman who had a food intolerance to potatoes. No amount of adjusting or therapy helped her, until we tested her for food intolerances. Potatoes were the culprit. Once she stopped eating potatoes, her back pain responded beautifully to chiropractic care.

Another patient had migraine headaches, 8 to 12 per month! That's how she came into our office. We initiated chiropractic care with little to no results. After she was muscle response tested for food intolerances and she eliminated the offending foods, she started to improve immediately. Her headaches are now only one or two per month and pretty mild at that.

Reactions to foods can be unpredictable. You can tolerate a food one time but under times of stress or in combinations with other foods, you can have a bad reaction that provokes symptoms.

Food affects the mind. Depression, anxiety, "brain fog", irritability, mood swings, feeling stressed, mania or any other psychological state or change in behavior may be caused or worsened by food intolerance. Psychiatrist David S. King observes that "there can be a link between psychopathology and sensitivity to common environmental (food and chemical) substances which cannot be overlooked in searching for the etiology of psychiatric symptoms."

Many children with ADD and ADHD have sensitivity to sugar and wheat. Eliminating those foods from the diet goes a long way toward reducing symptoms in these children. A study out of England found that children fed high fructose corn syrup and sodium benzoate (a common preservative found in soda pop and lots of foods children eat regularly) exhibit hyperactive behavior. Even "normal" kids displayed hyperactive behavior when fed these two non-food items.

At Advanced Chiropractic, we use Muscle Response Testing to uncover the cause of your health concern. Food intolerances can be a major party of any health problem. Knowledge is power and we can help you to recover your health quickly and economically.