Most people have some type of food allergy, maybe lactose (dairy), gluten, or even the simplest thing, such as strawberries.
Why is it that more and more people are having an increased reaction to food substances? If you eat food that you could be allergic to, you may feel bloated, have increased bowel movement, skin reactions, such as acne or redness, and even more severe reactions.
The body’s immune system keeps you healthy by fighting off infections and other dangers to good health. A food allergy reaction occurs when your immune system overreacts to a food or a substance in a food, identifying it as a danger and triggering a protective response.
The body recognizes a foreign particle that needs to be neutralized, and allergen-specific antibodies are produced to defend. These antibodies bind to specialized cells that release histamine and other inflammatory agents, then when the antibodies next encounter the same allergen, they circulate in the blood and may trigger symptoms in the gastro intestinal tract, skin, respiratory system, and circulatory system.
Most of us think that if you are allergic to certain foods and you simply stop eating them, the allergy will go away. Unfortunately it’s not that easy. Sooner or later you may start seeing different symptoms from other food substances too, because you did not heal root causes, you only removed the symptoms.
Our digestive system, especially the small intestine where the food molecules are absorbed, is vulnerable to poor nutrition and of course to certain drugs and diseases.
The small intestine is approximately 22 feet long, with an inside surface lined with tiny fingerlike protuberances called villi. The large surface area they present allows for rapid absorption of food during digestion.
They also contain blood capillaries to carry away the absorbed food molecules. If the villi are damaged, the food you eat is not well absorbed, and this can result in what’s known as “leaky gut syndrome”.
In a healthy intestine, nutrients are “tagged” by specialized immune cells so that the body will recognize them as safe. Without these tags, needed nutrients are treated as foreign invaders and your immune system creates antibodies to destroy them.
In a damaged gut, your tagging mechanism is not up to par and the result is a food allergy, which can microscopically damage the intestinal wall, allowing undigested food molecules to escape into the bloodstream. The immune system can’t recognize these molecules, so it sends out its armies in an effort to destroy them.
The gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) is the largest immune organ in the body (over 50%) and is the primary route by which we are exposed to antigens. Improving gut microbiome can help reduce allergic reactions.
Diagnosing a food allergy can be hard, because skin irritation does not necessarily reflect a true allergy, which is really just a hypersensitivity of the immune system that extends through the body. In a real allergy, immune components such as IgE antibodies in the blood are stimulated by an allergen.
The antibody binds to immune cells called mast cells, which then trigger the release of a cascade of chemicals that produce all kinds of inflammation and irritation. But levels of allergen-specific antibodies in the blood are quite low, even in allergic people, so running a simple blood test is not an answer, either.
So what you can do?
First, improve gut microbiome by consuming prebiotic foods, such as raw dandelion, artichoke, leeks, and asparagus. Also consume probiotic food sources, such as yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut. And if you have severe allergies, you may consider using probiotic supplements, just make sure they contain the correct strains for your specific issues.
You can also do an elimination diet — this is where you temporarily remove all suspected food allergens from the diet for around 3 weeks, and then you gradually reintroduce the individual foods one by one, watching your body’s reactions.
Remember, everything comes from inside you, so you can heal yourself from inside too.
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Ayda Ersoy is a nutrition and fitness director at The Diet Doc Hawaii. She can be reached at DietDocHawaii.com, Ayda@DietDocHawaii.com or (808) 276-6892.
