An allergy is an inappropriate response by the body’s immune system to a substance that is not normally harmful. The immune system is a highly complex defence mechanism that helps us fight infections. It does this by identifying foreign invaders and mobilizing the body’s white blood cells to fight them. In some people, the immune system wrongly identifies a nontoxic substance as an invader, and the white blood cells overreact, creating more damage to the body than the invader. Thus the allergic response becomes a disease state in itself.
Typical allergic responses are: nasal congestion, coughing, wheezing, itching, sinus issues, nausea, cramping abdominal pain, diarrhoea, anaphylactic shock, shortness of breath, headache, hay fever, fatigue, failure to thrive in children, behaviour disturbances, hives, eczema and other skin rashes. Almost any substance can cause an allergic reaction in someone. Traditionally, the most common allergens are pollen, dust, certain metals, some cosmetics, dust mites, animal hair, some common drugs such as penicillin, food additives, and chemicals found in soap, washing powder and many other chemicals including pesticide residues on foods.
Mould and the tropics: moulds live throughout the home, in any damp, dark place of which we have many in the tropics. They also flourish in soil, and any organic material such as foods. Moulds can be beneficial (penicillin, blue cheeses) or create disease states (Candida).
There is a difference between food allergies and food intolerances. Some of the most common allergenic foods are soya, chocolate, dairy foods (lactose or milk protein), eggs, shellfish, strawberries and wheat gluten. A person with food intolerance is unable to digest and process that food correctly usually due to lack of certain enzymes. A food allergy occurs when a person’s immune system generates an antibody response to the ingested food. Food intolerance can lead to allergy, if particles of undigested food manage to enter the bloodstream and cause a reaction. Leaky gut syndrome is a term used to describe a condition in which the lining of the intestinal tract becomes perorated and irritated and tiny particles of partially digested food enter the bloodstream, causing an allergic reaction.Some allergic reactions to food begin as soon as one starts chewing. Highly allergenic foods are easy to identify and eliminate from the diet. Delayed reactions are harder to detect. Emotional factors such as stress and anger may aggravate allergies, especially if the immune system is not functioning properly.
Food allergy self test:
If you suspect you are allergic to a food, you may like to try this. When completely relaxed take your pulse at the wrist. Count the number of beats in a 60 second period. A normal pulse reading is between 52 & 70 beats per minute. After taking your pulse, consume the food that you are testing, wait twenty minutes and take your pulse again. If your pulse rate has increased more than ten beats per minute, omit this food from your diet for a month and then retest yourself. Use the purest form of the food available. For instance if you are testing for wheat, wheaten bread contains a raft of chemicals and yeasts and you may be reacting to one of these, not the protein gluten in the wheat. Use a pure wheat cereal for this test. Use a similar criteria for any food you may test.Low hydrochloric acid in the stomach may be source of some allergies. When these digestive acids are low, food and pathogens are not completely broken down, do not digest completely in the small intestine and so to undigested foods into the bloodstream bringing skin and mucous membrane irritation (itch, sneezing, cough). An excellent place to start with allergies is to take digestive enzymes and beneficial flora for the gut. Specific herbs may also be prescribed for allergy sufferers. However, continual taking of digestion aids and herbs to overcome allergic reactions is not the answer. While getting relief from taking these aids, the antagonists, whether foods or environmental, need to be found and eliminated.
Allergies are not necessarily life long. Dependant on age, cause, lifestyle and ethnicity, allergies may come and go. This is why it’s important to get professional advice from a natural health practitioner who will also work with foods to find cause. The “Eat Right for Your Blood Type” is an excellent program to underpin any treatment program as the foods listed in the “avoid’ sections relative to your blood group type, may contain the antagonist you are needing to eliminate. It’s very important to build up the immune system in anybody presenting with allergic symptoms.
Allergy tests such as the IgG Food Detective test, heavy metal, Celiac and Candida tests plus the HTMA (hair tissue mineral analysis) are available at Calanna Pharmacy Natural Medicine Clinics, Townsville, North Cairns and Woree. Results from these tests will help to determine the body’s status to begin a treatment program.
References:
Prescription for Nutritional Healing Phyllis A. Balch P 153,154.
The Physicians Handbook of Clinical Nutrition, Henry Osiecki. B.Sc.
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