Food Allergies

What is a Food Allergy?

A food allergy is an immune system response to a food that the body mistakenly believes is harmful. Once the immune system identifies a particular food as harmful, it creates specific antibodies to it (specific IgE) . The next time the individual eats that food, the IgE attached to a cell (mast cell) stimulates the release of massive amounts of chemicals, including histamine, in order to protect the body. These chemicals trigger a cascade of allergic symptoms that can affect the lungs, stomach, skin, or heart. This is an overreaction of the immune system not a weakness or immune deficiency. In allergic reactions the immune system is working perfectly normal. The abnormality is with an error in recognizing the food protein as foreign.

IgE, mast cells and other components of the allergic cascade are an important part of our immune system. These components are how we fight off parasitic diseases.

Are all adverse reactions to foods an allergy?

Food Intolerances are common:

• Food poisoning: derived from food contaminated with bacteria and bacterial toxins.
• Histamine toxicity: high levels can be found in cheese, some wines, and fish in the scombroid family (tuna, mackerel).
• Scombroid poisoning: Fish from the scombroid family is not refrigerated properly and contaminated by a bacteria. This bacteria feeds on the meat and produces histamine.
• Lactose intolerance: due to lactase deficiency (an enzyme in the GI tract). The lack or deficiency of lactase inhibits the ability to break down lactose (the sugar in milk). Undigested lactose is digested by bacteria causing gas production, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
• Carbohydrate maldigestion: Inability to break down multiple different types of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the sugar in food. 2 of the most common carbohydrate maldigestion’s are lactose and fructan. Fructan is the primary reason people have GI discomfort with wheat, onions and garlic.
• Food additives: MSG and sulfites are two examples
• MSG: in large doses can cause: flushing, sensations of warmth, headache, chest discomfort, feeling of detachment.
• Sulfites: Occurs naturally in foods or may be added. Sulfites once ingested and in the stomach can give off a gas called sulfur dioxide. In high concentrations asthmatics can inhale this gas while eating, causing an asthma attack (bronchospasm)