LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Food Allergy

Increased leukotriene production by food additives in atopic dermatitis – (03-26-01)

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Increased leukotriene production by food additives in atopic dermatitis

Think the dermatologists are talking to the gastroenterologists on this one? Or would that be the allergists? In reality–neither group believes very heavily in food allergies causing seemingly unrelated systemic symptoms. Nonetheless, this is an excellent article stressing the importance of a food coloring/preservative free diet in the management of many diseases. Dr. Feingold many years back had proposed and had good results in the use of a non-processed diet for children with ADD/ADHD type disorders.

Synergy : Clinical & Experimental Allergy 31 (2), 265-273

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Surgery Advocated as Primary Treatment for Many Cases of GERD – (10-18-01)

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Surgery Advocated as Primary Treatment for Many Cases of GERD

I consider this topic, and this article, especially disturbing. To Western medicine, there are only two options to reflux disease: acid blockers or surgery. My gosh!! Have we forgotten that food allergy is known to play a strong role in lower esophageal tone? Cow’s milk allergy and GERD are well accepted bedfellows in infants–why do we forget this concept when the patient becomes an adult? How about avoiding the nightshade vegetables, caffeine and alcohol long before any pharmaceutical intervention?? Remember–it is not the acid causing the problem, it’s acid getting where it’s not supposed to be…

87th Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons Surgery is the only way to cure gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and should be the preferred treatment for Barrett esophagus, according to Dr. Jeffrey H. Peters of the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Peters made the case for Nissen fundoplication during a debate on surgical versus medical management of GERD at the 87th Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Peters challenged a recent report in The Journal of the American Medical Association, in which Dr. Stuart Jon Spechler and others concluded that antireflux surgery does not obviate the need for medications in most GERD patients. According to Dr. Peters, Dr. Spechler’s group reported that 40% of GERD patients treated with surgery died within 10 to 13 years, and most of the surviving patients required proton pump inhibitors. Dr. Peters challenged the accuracy of those data and said that most of the surgery patients who were put on medical therapy following surgery had no indication for treatment. “If you look carefully at these patients, you will find that only 10% had acid indications that required proton pump inhibition,” he said. Dr. Peters added that surgery should be offered to patients with pH-positive, non-erosive GERD and said surgery is the “preferred treatment for patients with endoscopic esophagitis — but it should be the primary treatment for Barrett’s esophagus.” He said, too, that successful GERD surgery is often more dependent on “repair of the hiatal hernia rather than lower sphincter repair.” Dr. Joel Richter, head of gastroenterology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, represented the medical side of the debate and disagreed with Dr. Peters’ claim that surgery can cure GERD. “In some patients you may get a good result for 5 or 10 years, but these patients are going to once again become symptomatic. I think it is more accurate to call surgery a functional repair.” He added that “abdominal stressors don’t go away just because you perform surgery.” But Dr. Peters responded, “In a sense abdominal stressors do go away, because after a good repair, these patients can’t vomit.” Dr. Richter pointed out that surgery is “very dependent on good surgeons performing good operations on the right patients.” Before a standing-room-only crowd of surgeons, Dr. Peters’ remarks received long ovations, while Dr. Richter’s remarks were greeted with polite applause.

AMA promotes benefits of “genetically improved” foods – (10-18-01)

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AMA promotes benefits of “genetically improved” foods

The concept of GMO (genetically modified organism) is very controversial. The main problem is that we are creating new proteins that the body has never before been exposed to, creating a myriad of opportunities for new food allergies/sensitivities. On the other hand, many of the GMO products are produced to make the organism grow better or more hardy and resistant to disease. Personally, I choose not to put any GMOs into my body if I can help it. And, by the way, when did the AMA become such a wonderful reference source?

bmj.com Hopkins 323 (7317): 828f

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Food allergy/intolerance: associations with other manifestations of atopy – (11-29-01)

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Food allergy/intolerance: associations with other manifestations of atopy

This is another wonderful article packed full of interesting concepts. First is finding out just how common food allergy is in the general population. This article also gives some common food allergens found which includes certain nuts, milk and fruits. Another common theme arises here as well–systemic manifestation of food allergy resulting in reactions in the GI tract, skin and oral cavity. Skin reactions were found in 28.7% of the allergic patients. This brings to mind one of my patients with eczema whose PCP told her that food does not have any relation to her symptoms. According to this study that’s just plain not true. Any patient with dermatological problems should be put on an elimination diet to see if food allergies has any contribution to symptoms. What does the patient have to lose?? Maybe the skin lesions…. Synergy : Allergy 56 (12), 1172-1179

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Food Allergy and Seronegative Arthritis – (08-06-01)

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Food Allergy and Seronegative Arthritis: Report of Two Cases

This is really an article that touches on many aspects. First, food allergy is a very important aspect in health and should be evaluated or at least considered in every patient. It is very well accepted that our dogs with arthritis can do much better with dietary changes, and yet when it comes to us humans it’s virtually unheard of. Next, food allergies having systemic effects really points to the need for healthy digestion, notably stomach acid. Allergies are most often produced in response to proteins; most proteins should not survive intact through the digestive process. Optimal digestion of proteins plays an important role in avoiding food allergies. Lastly, this article once again points to the systemic effect that the GI tract can have on our health. This is one area that still has not been grasped by mainstream medicine, and yet it’s impact on patient’s health can be tremendous.

Springer LINK: Clinical Rheumatology – Abstract Volume 20 Issue 4 (2001) pp 279-281

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Food hypersensitivity: association with atopic diseases – (05-20-03)

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Food hypersensitivity: association with atopic diseases

I still feel that food allergy is a very commonly overlooked contribution to chronic diseases. Here we see further report for this contribution with dairy being second on the list (kiwi #1). One thing I find interesting is that milk allergy was almost twice as common as peanut, and yet peanut allergy is always getting lots of press and warnings are seen on all types of labels. Although there is the danger of anaphylactic shock from peanuts, the chronic contribution of dairy allergy to disease is still a foreign concept to most clinicians.

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Nutrition and Cognitive Function – (07-30-01)

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Nutrition and Cognitive Function

While not usually the first treatment thought of for cognitive and psychological problems, I firmly believe that nutrition and exercise are one of the most powerful (and underutilized) tools we have to deal with them. Maintaining proper insulin sensitivity, avoiding food allergies (especially gluten, when present) and exercise are just a few of the options available. In addition, the process in the body that uses folic acid for a large variety of metabolic processes can have a major impact on cognitive function. Genetic sluggishness of the enzyme that produces the active form of folic acid results in elevated homocysteine levels and impaired methylation (a process which serves to protect DNA).

Synergy : Nutrition in Clinical Care 4 (3), 156-167

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Consumer Group Damns US Regulation of Genetically Altered Foods – (01-25-01)

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Consumer Group Damns US Regulation of Genetically Altered Foods

Unfortunately, few people here in the US are aware of the term “genetically modified” when it comes to food. “So what??” would be many’s reply; however, it is a very real possibility that, by altering nature, we are creating proteins that our bodies have never seen before, setting up the stage for all kinds of new food allergies, sensitivities and diseases. This really can be quite serious…

(article) The US government, in its enthusiasm to speed genetically altered foods to the market, has forsaken its responsibility to regulate in the public interest and allows the companies that make and sell those products to decide their safety, a new report by the Consumer Federation of America concludes. “That system assumes that a company with a big investment in a new product can always be trusted to put the public interest first, and it assumes that one of those companies will never make a mistake,” CFA’s Carol Tucker Foreman said at a briefing held to release the report. The hands-off regulatory approach is hobbling US companies’ efforts to export their biotech products, the report contends. Both the European Union and Brazil, which are cited in the report, require mandatory review and labeling of all biotech foods, and have frowned on US imports because of what they view as lax regulation in this country. According to the report, worldwide sales of genetically modified foods grew an estimated $75 million in 1995, when the first commercial plantings occurred, to approximately $2.3 billion in 1999. More than 40 modified food plants have been marketed in the US for general use, most of them corn and soy products.