We are familiar with terms such as lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance or allergy to eggs or shellfish. However, the mechanisms leading to the development of food intolerances or allergies are different.
For example, gluten intolerance in the form of coeliac disease occurs as a result of autoimmune mechanisms in patients with a genetic predisposition. In this case, IgA or IgG type anti-transglutaminase antibodies, the body's own enzymes involved in the pathogenicity of the disease, can be detected.
On the other hand, lactose intolerance has a completely different mechanism, namely the enzyme deficiency of lactase, the enzyme that metabolises lactose. It can be genetic or acquired due to various damages to the intestinal lining, for example, of a chemical or infectious nature, without immunological involvement. Manifestations occur at the level of the digestive tract.
Another category of intolerance is food allergies, also known as IgE-mediated type I allergies. They manifest through rapid reactions, progressing within minutes and showing an early onset, in less than one hour after ingestion of the allergen, easy to correlate clinically. Manifestations can be digestive, cutaneous or respiratory. They are diagnosed by taking the medical history and by determining the specific IgE antibodies in the blood.
Less known are IgG-mediated type III allergies. This type of immunological food intolerance is characterised by slower manifestation, duration of several hours or days and onset after a number of hours or days from ingestion of the allergen. In this case, it is impossible to link the symptoms to the ingestion of food, and clinical manifestations are diverse and unpredictable. Symptoms may be abnormal intestinal transit, bloating, skin rash, heart symptoms, migraines, chronic fatigue, depression or panic, hyperactivity or irritability, changes in weight.
The long-term presence of these symptoms whose cause is difficult to identify and remedy or even the asymptomatic presence of specific IgG antibodies to food can generate, over time, chronic inflammation localised to various organs, facilitated by the presence of the antigen-antibody complexes, which can lead to secondary autoimmune reactions, such as thyroiditis, ulcerative rectocolitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis or others.
The detection of specific IgG antibodies to food proteins in the blood is accomplished through the ELISA test and it allows to establish an individual diet by eliminating food allergens, a process called immunonutrition. The experience gained so far shows that the most common foods to which patients have specific IgG antibodies are milk, chicken eggs, yeast, and gluten in grains.
Virtually any food containing proteins can be allergenic if consumed in a period in which the intestine is inflamed, for example, during an episode of enterocolitis. An inflamed intestine enables the absorption of insufficiently broken down oligopeptides due to the widened space between enterocytes in the leaky gut syndrome. These are not recognised and become antigenic, leading to the formation of specific IgG antibodies.
After identifying them, their elimination from your diet for periods of 3-12 months, depending on the level of antibodies, could be enough to bring the antibodies down to values that are no longer dangerous.
Reintroducing food after this restrictive diet should be done gradually, allowing one new food each month. A particular food is excluded again if the symptoms reoccur. To prevent the occurrence or recurrence of specific IgG antibodies the rotation diet is recommended. This implies breaks of 3-4 days before eating the same food, this being the time period proven to be enough for the food to have little chance of becoming antigenic.
There are frequent confusions between the different types of food intolerance described above, let us take milk for example, where there is a major difference between lactose intolerance, IgE milk allergy and IgG milk allergy or intolerance. They differ both in terms of manifestation and in terms of diagnostic method. The detection of food intolerance through bioresonance is indicative and requires serological confirmation. The identification of IgG to food in the blood can be influenced by acute infections or immunosuppressive treatments.
This is why it is important to see a doctor with experience in food intolerances and avoid making decisions by yourself about taking various tests that may be irrelevant, where you are not making informed choices or your timing is inappropriate.
How and where can I discuss with an allergologist or doctor specialized in food allergies?
We are waiting for you in Bucharest at VERONIKI Life - Clinic for Integrative Medicine to discuss about food intolerances. For more details please contact us at 021.232.98.41 or write us at office@veronikilife.ro
Address of VERONIKI Life - Clinic for Integrative Medicine:
2-4 Murmurului Entrance, 1st District, Bucharest
