response are fairly rare, particularly in adults.
Some More Common
Issues “Most of what we’re seeing today is an uptick in food sensitivities and intolerances, terms that are often used interchangeably to describe foods that are not digested well and can chal- lenge the immune system,” says Solana Beach, California, nutrition and fitness expert JJ Virgin, author of The Virgin Diet. Newark, Delaware, medical doctor
and allergist Junfang Jiao, Ph.D., attests to increased levels of testing for food allergies and sensitivities in recent years. “I can’t say there are more allergies or sensitivities, but more doctors are aware of the wide-ranging symptoms and more people are getting referred for testing,” he reports. Many experts agree on at least one
FEARLESS EATING C
How to Move Past Food Sensitivities by Kathleen Barnes
omplaints of digestive upsets, brain fog, headaches, relentless food cravings and unrelieved
stress appear to be at epidemic levels these days. “These symptoms may be part of
newfound awareness of the wide-rang- ing and seemingly unrelated health problems caused by food sensitivities and intolerances, which are different from food allergies,” explains microbi- ologist Kiran Krishnan, from Chicago.
Food Allergies Food allergies seem to be plaguing America’s children now more than in the past. We know that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, once standard lunchbox fare, have become a no-no. They’re often outlawed by schools to protect the students that experience extreme peanut allergies. The symptoms of food allergies in
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adults and children, often including hives, rashes and itching, can range from being annoying to life threatening. For extremely sensitive people, the tiniest fragment of a peanut or a bee sting, exposure to latex gloves or certain medications like penicillin can cause such a sudden strong allergic reaction that it results in anaphylaxis, which makes breathing passages swell shut. If untreated, such extreme allergies can even prove fatal, which is why people with severe allergies carry the antidote epinephrine (adrenaline) with them. Food allergies are diagnosed by blood
and/or skin testing under the supervision of a medical professional, usually a doctor of medicine, osteopathy or natu- ropathy. Effective treatment, which must be customized to the individual, typically entails avoidance of allergy triggers. Fortunately, food allergies that
trigger such a dramatic, fast, immune
underlying cause behind the trend—a widely studied condition called leaky gut, characterized by intestinal per- meability. Microscopic pinholes in an unhealthy small intestine can allow undigested nutrients to pass through intestinal walls, triggering mild immune responses, inflammation and, poten- tially, the onset of some diseases. Theories of what causes leaky gut
are diverse and sometimes contradic- tory but experts recommend consulting a medical professional if one suffers from food sensitivities. Each individual is unique, so there is no “blanket solution” for everyone. Dysbiosis: Leaky gut is often caused
by an imbalance in “good” and “bad” intestinal bacteria, sometimes called dysbiosis, says Krishnan. It can be brought on by the use of antibiotics, antibiotic residues in meats and dairy products or a diet high in sugar and processed foods. Most interesting, he believes, is the
discovery that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup used on genetically modified (GMO) corn and soy crops, contributes to dysbiosis, as verified by Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists in a study published in Interdisciplinary Tox- icology. They concluded with a plea to world governments to reconsider
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