Eet wat bij je past
(Eat what suits you)
Christine Tobback
More info | Order
Gezond of gezondigd?
(Healthy or sinned?)
Christine Tobback -
Kenny De Meirleir
More info | Order
Total dietary advice
Why is a total approach required?
Dietary advice can only give the desired result when the totality of hypersensitivities is tackled. Patients have often tried several diets over the years, while their symptoms hardly improve or even get worse.
This is because many persons are susceptible to several “triggers” in their food pattern. Every hypersensitivity can reinforce all the other allergies/intolerances. We make a distinction between 5 types of food hypersensitivities:
- Primary (classical) allergies (e.g. for cow’s milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, fish, soy, crustaceans) and the corresponding cross-reactions (e.g. with birch, grass or weed pollen): these hypersensitivities can be demonstrated by means of a skin prick test or blood analyses (IgE antibodies). In case of an IgE mediated food allergy the person reacts to a very small amount of the allergen.
- Pseudo-allergies (e.g. for acids, salicylates, glutamates, colouring agents, biogenic amines, sulphites): these cannot be detected by skin or blood tests, but do cause a reaction. Symptoms may occur after a few minutes, several hours and up to after 24 hours. These reactions often occur only in combination with an underlying infection or they may be much more intense at such times. Reactions can also be triggered by a combination of food and medicines (e.g. certain colouring agents in combination with certain preservatives). The triggering dose differs from person to person (E. Stevens and A.-M Kochuyt, 2001 * W. Stevens, 2001).
- Immune complex mediated allergy (e.g. for certain types of milk or dairy products, types of grain): these reactions do not usually occur within a few hours after intake but within a day and can be demonstrated by a blood analysis (IgG antibodies). This form of allergy usually occurs after the use of large amounts of food where IgG antibodies are formed. These bind with the antigen, creating so-called immune complexes which can deposit in the small blood vessels and cause inflammation reactions (J. Kamsteeg, 2001).
- Intolerances (e.g. for the sugars lactose/fructose): digestion/absorption of these sugars can be more difficult due to a lack of enzymes or as a result of a failing transport system to the blood. These can be discovered by means of a breath test.
- Some people are also hypersensitive to certain trace elements such as nickel and cobalt.
Not digesting certain food elements can also stimulate the growth of unwanted intestinal bacteria/yeasts which may cause a “dysbiosis”. Metabolites of these pathogenic micro organisms can then increase the permeability of the bowel and cause allergies. A dysbiosis is usually associated with an increased permeability of the bowel, a very common characteristic both in case of food allergy and food intolerances, which also allows for more toxic substances and histamine to be absorbed in the blood (J. Brostoff, 1998).
The problem of self-elimination
Some people know that they do not tolerate certain food elements and eliminate those from their diet. They often do this so strictly that their diet becomes unbalanced:
Examples
Example 1: stop eating fruit
Some types of fruit may cause symptoms, which causes some people not to eat any fruits anymore. But, it turns out that only the types which trigger a histamine release and the types which contain lots of acids lead to health complaints. Some fruits are perfectly ok on your menu! Fruit lovers are always relieved and happy because they sought dietary advice ...
Example 2: eating no more bread
Several types of bread may cause symptoms. In one concrete case it turned out that one of my patients, who had become afraid to eat bread, was only hypersensitive to wheat-nickel (dark types of bread) and acrylamide (dark crust). Now that he eats different types of bread he can again fully enjoy his meals!
Example 3: no more sugar
Some people remove all sugar and sugar-containing products from their diet on advice of therapists. No more jam, syrup or biscuits and they only eat cheese and cold meat sandwiches. What they do not know is that their symptoms can get worse by using the wrong type of cold meats or certain types of cheese! For example, someone turned out to be hypersensitive for tyramine, acids and fructose. After applying the personalised dietary advice this person had no more symptoms, not even if he eats sugar (moderately) and certain sugar-containing foods products.