Allergic Response
In my clinical practice I have found food sensitivities to be much more common than I had ever expected. Milk, peanut, and wheat allergies are causing some of the allergic rhinitis, asthma, and rashes that I see. Patients have been able to stop 2 or even 3 prescription drugs after eliminating offending items, then developing symptoms again when re-challenging themselves.
Much of our allergies and asthma are related directly to the food we eat.
When our son was five years old he developed asthma (both my wife and I had asthma as children). We cleaned the house, took out the rugs, and put in HEPA filters. He got better and then worse again. He was diagnosed with pneumonia twice and had chronic congestion and dry cough. He was using two inhalers. Nothing we did seemed to make much difference.
Then one of my patients had suggested I buy the book Optimal Wellness by Ralph Golan, M.D. My patient reported the book had informative sections on low blood sugars and food allergies. Twice I went to buy the book and twice I left without it because the information seemed so foreign. I was reluctant because if Dr. Golan was right, then I was ignorant of (and resistant to) much of the information he was presenting.
I finally bought the book. Dr. Golan wrote that at least some of asthma and allergies are on the basis of food allergies. Our son John (who was then six years old) and I went to local organic food store and bought the foods that Dr. Golan suggested we substitute for our usual diet (John and I did this together). Over the next two weeks John’s cough, congestion, and wheezing went away. As we added foods back, John began coughing after eating peanut butter crackers. When we got to milk, his eyes began burning and he cried. John is now eleven years old and has put his inhalers away ever since changing his diet at age six. And this was a kid who had lived on all the foods to which he was allergic, including string cheese, yogurt, cereal with milk, ice cream, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter crackers.
Most people have noticed that drinking milk gives them more mucus. Singers are told to avoid milk before concerts to reduce congestion. Athletes are told to avoid all milk products before sporting events to reduce secretions. What are our bodies telling us by this? Don’t drink milk.
How do foods cause allergic symptoms?
It appears that large proteins absorbed through our gut stimulate our immune system and initiate much of the allergic response we see in the upper and lower respiratory tracts. The large proteins in milk and peanuts had apparently stimulated our son’s immune system to react to dust, mold, and animal dander in his local environment. We could not eliminate the dust, mold, mildew, and mouse dander adequately from our old house but we could modify his diet, which in his case did the trick.
And this trick has worked over and over again in my patients. The most common offenders are milk protein (casein), wheat protein (gluten), and peanuts, as well as the sulfites in red wine and the proteins in orange juice and corn. My patients report that they have stopped all of their allergy and/or asthma medications and only need them if they cheat (i.e. Pizza and ice cream in milk-allergic, or flour-based products in wheat-allergic). One patient was a surgeon from Europe in his mid thirties with a history of asthma since childhood. He was very doubtful, but after he eliminated the most common foods that cause an allergic response (see list below), his asthma was gone. When he again tried wheat, orange juice and red wine (using the elimination and reintroduction diet), his asthma symptoms returned. Since avoiding these, his asthma has resolved and he no longer needs his inhalers (and his breathing tests are normal).
Dr. Oski, the emeritus chairman of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wrote a book entitled Don’t Drink Your Milk. In this book he shares his clinical experience that milk, wheat, peanut, oranges, wine, etc.
initiate an abnormal immune response in many individuals causing recurrent ear infections, asthma, and gastrointestinal problems. More on the elimination diet later.
Don’t Drink Your Milk (if you have allergies, asthma, or head congestion)
The Dairy Council has done a wonderful job of marketing milk as an important calcium source. The Harvard Nurses Health study showed that the more milk women drank, the more fractures they had (in this study of 74,000 women, the women who drank three glasses of milk per day had more fractures than those who rarely drank milk). There are many healthier calcium sources, such as the leafy vegetables and sardines, etc. One cup of broccoli or one can of sardines provides you with more than half of the daily requirement. If you aren’t going to base your major calorie intake on leafy vegetables, then I suggest one or two calcium/ magnesium supplements per day (see section on supplements).
One of the sugars in milk (galactose) has been associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer, juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus, and cataracts. I encourage my patients with allergies and those feeling less than great to eliminate milk. Eliminating wheat (wheat flour-based foods) is also healthier for many people. This consists of eating a whole food diet while eliminating all processed and packaged foods that you cannot identify the contents.
The following includes the most common foods associated with symptoms of sensitivity:
• Headaches: wheat, chocolate, MSG, nuts, wine, cheese, eggs, milk, citrus fruits
• Allergic rhinitis (hayfever): milk, wheat, peanuts, chocolate, sulfites in wine
• Hives: strawberries, tomatoes, chocolate, eggs, shellfish, mangoes, pork, peanuts, nuts
• Asthma: milk, wheat, tartrazine (FDA yellow dye #5), aspirin, peanuts, orange juice, sulfites in wine
• Hyperactivity, poor attention: corn, wheat, milk, soybeans, beer (grains- hops, barley)
• Eczema: eggs, citrus fruits, tomatoes
Milk Makes More Mucus (so does wine, orange juice, and chocolate)
Milk allergy and asthma is a well-known association in children. Athletes and singers are consistently told to avoid milk products before important engagements because they often increase airway congestion and secretions. So why do we encourage people to consume a substance otherwise foreign to their existence after weaning (for the USDA and the economy of course!)? Contrary to the popular belief that we outgrow our allergy to milk as we grow older, it can manifest itself in different ways in adults. These can include allergic rhinitis, chronic fatigue and chronic low-grade depression. I have seen many patients (including our son and the surgeon from Denmark) have their symptoms resolve completely following the exclusion of the offending food, most commonly milk, wheat, sulfites and peanuts.
Milk Products Are Everywhere (and take an effort to avoid)
• Milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream
• Cream in your coffee (the hardest for me to give up), Lattes
• Pizza
• Bagel and cream cheese
• Cottage cheese
• Baked goods with casein (the milk proteins that promote allergy)
• Protein drinks with casein
• Any food with casein listed on the ingredients
• Lactaid products still have the allergenic proteins
What are the options?
• Soy-milk, almond-milk, or rice-milk instead of cow’s milk on cereal or in coffee
• Fresh fruit for dessert instead of ice cream
• What?! for pizza? Is there no acceptable substitute? Won’t the anchovies protect me?
The Other Side of Soy (Consider almond-milk or rice-milk if you or your children like milk)
Many patients told me not to recommend soy. Science supports them. Soy contains substances that can promote abnormal thyroid growth and goiter. There are substances that interfere with protein digestion. Not to mention the acid-extraction procedures that are used to process soymilk and tofu, which oxidizes and hydrolyzes the proteins. Fermented soy products (miso) are ok, because these are not acid-extracted and the bacteria break down the substances that cause the above problems.
The Allergy-Addiction Connection
I am also learning more about the allergy-addiction connection. It appears that often the allergic response to foods causes the release of adrenaline and endorphins (morphine-like substances) that give us an energy boost and a greater sense of well being and creativity. This can be followed by a crash. If the suspected allergen is not eaten we can get a mild withdrawal reaction making us crave the food.
The foods we crave (even if the craving is very subtle) can be the very foods making us feel less than great to begin with (causing fatigue and depressed mood). Food and drink associated with this reaction are listed below. You may not want to let go of your substance of abuse, but at least you will understand your body’s reaction.
Foods associated with Allergy-Addiction
People tend to binge on these substances because of the heightened sense of well being and productivity, making avoiding them difficult. If these substances are also causing significant head congestion, asthma, headaches, or eczema, it may be worth the decreased productivity for a more livable life. But then again we need to live life as it presents itself. But listen to your body. Your body knows often much before our minds will recognize or admit conflicts in our health and wellbeing.
Copyright 2019 George Steele MD. All rights reserved.