Adverse reactions, intolerances or allergies to some foods are becoming more common. To avoid them, it is advisable to opt for a more natural diet.
Food allergies have increased appreciably in the last twenty years, not only in number of cases but also in severity and persistence. On the other hand, food intolerances and sensitivities are also growing.
The underlying problem seems to be the abrupt dietary change experienced in recent decades, associated with agri-food modernization.
The prostaglandins that mediate allergic reactions are generated from fatty acids, and the consumption of fats has varied significantly: quality polyunsaturated fatty acids have been reduced and saturated ones increased.
Authors such as Dr. Jean Seignalet have linked the genetic transformation of various foods over the centuries, especially grasses, with the appearance of diseases, including food allergies. Supporters of this argument claim that digestive enzymes and mucins are not adapted to new food molecules, as is often the case with wheat and corn.
The result is the insufficient digestion of some elements, the evolution towards a flora of putrefaction with the appearance of more or less dangerous bacteria, the aggression against the mucosa of the small intestine and its consequent excessive permeability.
The early diversification of the diet in the first year of life and the frequent reduction of breastfeeding, the use and abuse of certain food additives, the abuse of pesticides, the lack of trace elements in the farmland could also predispose to allergies. And food, excessive hygiene or the early use of antibiotics, among other factors.
Better than obsessing over looking for a “fatal” food, is to return to a more original diet , eating non-manipulated foods, avoiding processed foods and those loaded with additives , promoting breastfeeding , using minimal antibiotics, restricting unhealthy foods and cooking for below 110 ° C.
WHAT IS A FOOD ALLERGY?
The immune reaction that causes an allergic condition is mediated by IgE immunoglobulins, and is so sudden that it leaves the person prepared to reject said food from now on.
The antigen can be a protein, a substance bound to a protein, an additive, or, less commonly, a polysaccharide.
WHAT IS A FOOD INTOLERANCE?
It is the result of the formation of antibodies against certain foods, but not of the IgE class as in allergies, but first of IgA and, after multiple contacts with the food, of IgG.
The effects are abdominal bloating and gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, rhinitis, chronic dermatological disorders…
CAN YOU BE “SENSITIVE” TO A FOOD?
An increasing number of people are sensitive to certain foods or substances present in them.
The picture of symptoms is diffuse from the clinical point of view since, in addition, no pattern of immune reactivity appears in the laboratory tests.
WHAT ALLERGIES ARE MOST COMMON?
The most common allergies or intolerances are to dairy products, soybeans and wheat. In children, also with eggs and nuts, such as almonds.
Allergy to grasses is common because their protein part has undergone a genetic transformation. Bread flours, on the other hand, usually have multiple additives.
WHICH CEREALS GIVE THE LEAST PROBLEMS?
Cereals that cause fewer allergies and intolerances are less manipulated, as the rice, the millet, the quinoa, the buckwheat and amaranth, which are usually taken beans.
To be precise, it must be said that the last three are not grasses, although in practice they are cooked and served as cereals.
CAN SOY CAUSE ALLERGIES?
Yes, blood tests often show positive for IgG (immunoglobulin G). Its protein part is difficult to digest if it is not well cooked.
In addition, it is increasingly difficult to find quality soybeans. The so-called azuki beans are more digestible.
DOES AN OVERCOOKED FOOD GIVE YOU AN ALLERGY?
Not at the beginning. Sometimes it is the opposite, since its phytates, if not cooked well, can promote intestinal permeability and cause sensitivity.
However, cooking at high temperatures (in the oven or frying) is a source of sensitivity, since it generates foreign molecules inaccessible to digestive enzymes.
ARE ALLERGIES IRREVERSIBLE?
When you return to a traditional quality diet and the gastrointestinal ecosystem recovers, it is possible, over time, to become tolerant of a food again.
It is about reintroducing it in small quantities, always under medical supervision.
ARE LABORATORY TESTS HELPFUL?
IgE tests are often unavoidable when the person has shown a clear allergic picture to suspected foods.
IgG tests can guide some foods to avoid, but they are often imprecise and do not determine food sensitivities or reasons.
CAN A SENSITIVITY DISAPPEAR?
The cause may be a defect or deficiency of an enzyme necessary to digest some foods.
When it is possible to optimize the enzymatic functions of detoxification, the sensitivities improve notably and the symptoms disappear or are limited to infrequent and very tolerable episodes.
