UNDERSTANDING ALLERGY: OTHER SPECIAL FOOD PROBLEMS

Posted on April 7th, 2009, by admin

If you’ve ruled out everything we’ve mentioned so far and still suspect that your problems are caused by diet, think about the following.

Ragweed Relatives. Sunflower seeds and chamomile tea are members of the same plant family as ragweed and chrysanthemums. If you’re allergic to ragweed, you could very well develop an allergy to those foods.

Iodine. As a nutrient, iodine is an essential mineral that prevents goitre. But 1 to 3 per cent of the population happens to be allergic to high levels of iodine in the diet over a period of time. Iodine itself isn’t an allergen in the strict sense. Rather, iodine molecules are ‘haptens’ – a chemical that attaches itself to a protein which then triggers the reaction.

For a small number of people, eating a lot of iodine-rich foods – such as kelp, sea fish or iodized salt – can trigger or aggravate acne, eczema and other skin reactions. Iodine-sensitive people may also have to avoid other, unsuspected sources of iodine: certain drugs and food additives, dairy foods processed with equipment cleaned with iodine solutions and commercial breads baked with iodine-containing dough conditioners.

Alcohol. If you get a hangover from wine but not vodka, you could be allergic to grapes, but not grain. If you’re allergic to grains such as wheat and corn, a few sips of whisky may make you feel positively dreadful. And since alcoholic beverages are fermented with yeast, all liquor spells trouble if you’re allergic to yeast.

In other words, if you’re allergic to a food, don’t drink alcoholic beverages made from it.

Aside from its origin, though, alcohol of any kind tends to be a problem for people with allergies. Alcohol worsens food allergies of any kind by dilating blood vessels and by speeding up the absorption of foods into the bloodstream. One physician told us about a woman who usually tolerated prawns quite well – unless she had a cocktail or wine with dinner, in which case she suffered from hives, facial swelling and diarrhoea.

Sugar. If you are allergic to grains and grasses, cane sugar may trigger allergy. If you’re allergic to corn, you could also be allergic to corn sugar. The same goes for cane and corn molasses. (Other people are allergic to beet sugar.) The problem is that food labels don’t always tell you what sort of sugar or molasses you’re getting.

‘Sugar labelling is notoriously inadequate,’ commented Dr Theron Randolph. ‘And processed foods tend to contain all three types – cane, corn and beet – in a liquid blend.’ To avoid a sugar allergy problem. Dr Randolph continued, ‘prepare desserts at home so you know what you’re getting.’

From the standpoint of allergy, honey is a relatively safe substitute for sugar since few people are allergic to it. Once in a blue moon, buckwheat honey may be a problem for those sensitive to buckwheat, or orange blossom honey for those sensitive to citrus. Pure maple syrup is also safe. Saccharin, however, is out. Not only is it strongly suspected of causing cancer, but as a coal tar product saccharin has been known to cause allergy.

*26/65/5*

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