News_May10_Linda

Food Allergy In Children

Linda Brown

Food allergies and sensitivities affect children in a number of different ways; physically, mentally, emotionally and behaviourally. They cause a wide variety of symptoms including ear, nose and throat irritation; frequent infections; skin rashes; fatigue; poor concentration; moodiness; hyperactivity; anxiety; irritability; and bedwetting. Quite often a child who has the ability to be patient seems unable to control their on-edge nerves, leading them to interrupt constantly; throw unusual tantrums or withdraw completely.
Occasionally, behaviour is the only symptom of a food reaction but generally it co-occurs with unhealthy mucous membranes, skin, digestion or immunity.
Food reactions may be caused by allergy (an immune response) or sensitivity (a non-immune inflammation or other reaction).
The most common reactants are:

Additives: colours, flavours and preservatives
Food Allergens – both IgE (e.g. dust mites, pollen, seafood, peanuts, tomato, corn, citrus) and IgG (e.g. wheat, dairy, soy, yeast, meta-bi-sulphite)
Gluten (coeliac, allergy or intolerance
Salicylates
Amines
Glutamates

Separately gluten (from wheat) and casein (from dairy) can produce peptides in the gut that act as reactants. It is thought that any gut based food allergy or intolerance can impede liver detoxification of naturally occurring food chemicals (e.g. salicylates and amines) and cause further intolerances. Supporting the gut and liver is paramount to fixing the sensitivity.
Food Additives – colours, flavours and preservatives
These additives occur mainly in processed foods and cause a variety of symptoms, from tantrums and hyperactivity to lack of attention, asthma and rashes.
The most common food additives that cause imbalances are:

Colours

Erythrosine 127 (red)
Tartrazine 102 (yellow)
Yellow 107 2G and Sunset Yellow 110

Flavour enhancers

MSG 621
627,631, 635

Preservatives

Sulphites 220-228 (dried fruit, fruit juice, coconut, processed meats)
Benzoates 210-213 (syrups, medications, cordial)
Nitrates 249-252 (processed meats)

Our advice is to get a chemical decoder such as "The Chemical Maze" (sold at Vive) and read labels well.
Food Allergy
Food allergens are generally divided into immediate IgE reactions (such as anaphylaxis to peanuts); and IgG reactions (such as bloating with wheat). IgE reactions usually cause a reaction within minutes to an hour (such as wheeze), while IgG reactions crest between 30 minutes and 4 days. IgG reactions are more difficult to identify because multiple foods cause accumulative reactions – in other words they overlap and are often seen a day after the food(s) is consumed. This causes unpredictable symptom patterns.
Gluten allergy can be coeliac disease (zero tolerance of gluten which causes autoimmune destruction of the gut); gluten allergy (whereby IgG and IgA antibodies are released and cause symptoms); and/or gluten sensitivity (which produces irritation without an antibody release). Most often, behavioural symptoms will be accompanied by bloating, bowel irregularity or fatigue.
The easiest way to identify such allergens is to:

Consult your Doctor for a RAST (radioallergosorbent) blood test or skin prick test for IgE allergies; plus a test for gluten allergy: TTG (anti-tissue transglutaminase) and anti-gliaden IgA and IgG
Consult your naturopath or holistic Medical Practitioner for a blood IgG test;
Use kinesiology techniques to identify reactants non –invasively (particularly useful for very young children).

Food Chemical Sensitivity – Salicylates, Amines and Glutamates
Overall these are naturally occurring chemicals in foods that we should be able to tolerate. People develop sensitivities to them when there is more in the diet than the body can process. This can be due to a combination of genetics, leaky gut, liver toxicity or overload due to multiple irritants in the diet.
Once you have ruled out allergy or eliminated allergens from the diet, it becomes easier to diagnose other food chemical sensitivities. Salicylate, amine, glutamate and additive sensitivities can only be identified by elimination diets (low in that food) followed by a challenge (eating that food and watching for a reaction). These take time and effort, and children with these sensitivities often have allergies as well. This causes many overlapping symptoms. For a clear picture, diagnose and remove allergies first.
Salicylates, amines and glutamates are naturally occurring components of many foods. Salicylates are high in foods such as citrus, melon, berries, avocado, sultanas, broccoli, mushrooms, mint, and aspirin. Amines and glutamates are high in tomato, deli meats, chocolate, cheese and canned tuna. One highly reactive glutamate is the flavour enhancer MSG (monosodium glutamate, 621), found in Asian foods, chips, biscuits and many sauces.
Once the dietary challenge identifies the sensitivity you can minimise the offending agent until the symptoms clear, then challenge the foods and slowly re-introduce foods. In the meantime, it’s wise to have a nutritionist or naturopath assess your child’s gut and liver function, and provide nutritional support where necessary.

In essence, my step-by-step filter for detecting and resolving food allergy or sensitivity in children is:

Avoid food additives. Buy or download a chemical decoder and read numbers on labels. Check out http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/ or read the Failsafe Diet by Sue Dengate.
Test for allergies and avoid them (IgE via your GP and IgG via your naturopath or nutritionist).
If your child still has symptoms after 1 month of an allergy free diet, do the ‘elimination – challenge’ diet for salicylates, amines and glutamates.
Fix the gut wall. Seek assistance from a Nutritionist, Naturopath or Holistic GP to improve the source of the allergy – dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is an imbalance in the proportions of good and bad bacteria in the gut. Usually this means there is an excess of parasites, yeast and harmful bacteria, and a deficiency of beneficial bacteria. Beneficial bacteria are imperative to balanced immunity and allergy prevention or cure.
If behaviour is an issue, seek ongoing parenting support for behavioural management. The Triple P program has been noted to be particularly effective and is based at the university of Queensland.

Other helpful measures:

Eliminate chemicals from the home – personal use as well as washing powders. Buy natural products with the least chemicals in them. You can clean almost anything with bicarb soda and vinegar, but you can get well-priced chemical free products readily.
NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique) desensitisation therapy can be a good tool to reduce reactivity. This is a non-invasive technique based on kinesiology muscle testing and Acupressure. It works by increasing the body’s energetic tolerance to foods, chemicals and specific nutrients. NAET works best for desensitising foods that belong in the diet (such as egg or seafood – even anaphylaxis has been reversed). It can be used for foods that the body is genetically not inclined to digest (such as cow’s milk) but it is more difficult and does not make the food beneficial for the patient.

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