Food intolerances/allergies

One in three people suffer from hidden food allergies, battling with weight gain, sinus trouble, chronic skin conditions, arthritis and bowel problems, just to name a few, and not realizing the hidden culprit is actually the food they are eating.

Because of man’s ingenuity to domesticate and harness chickens for meat and eggs, dairy cows for milk, and load them with hormones and chemicals, our immune systems are now in trouble.  An intolerance causes a reaction in the immune system.  The digestive tract is the gateway between the outside world and your body and it is guarded ferociously by your immune system.  If a substance that isn’t on the guest list, so to speak, tries to gatecrash and get through your digestive tract and into the bloodstream, your immune system goes haywire.

Your immune system produces tailor-made weapons that latch onto specific substances to help escort them out of your body.  They are called immunoglobulins or Ig for short. The real serious ones are called IgE, although most allergies involve slower and less dangerous IgG reactions.  IgE reactions tend to be more immediate and severe, like peanuts and shellfish which may cause anaphylactic shock.  These are life long and you cannot rid yourself of them.  Whereas with IgG based allergies, simplistically, all you need to do is avoid the offending food strictly for three to six months and the body ‘forgets’ that it is allergic to it.  The reason being that there will no longer be any IgG antibodies to that food in your system.

More often than not the foods a person is allergic to are those they really crave.  If you’re craving and eating something frequently, as though you’re mildly addicted, there is a chance you’re allergic to that food.

The ten most common foods or food groups that people are allergic to are

• Cow’s milk: the protein casein
• Yeast
• Eggs: mostly the egg whites
• Wheat
• Gliadin grains
• Oats
• Nuts: most common are cashews peanuts brazil almonds
• Beans: soya beans
• White fish
• Shellfish

The best and most truly accurate way to find out what you are allergic to is to have what’s called a quantitative IgG test.  This is the gold standard of allergy testing, quantitative means that the test shows not only whether you are allergic, but also how strong your allergic reaction is.

Two types of labs are commonly used for these tests:

1) The Food Antibody test offered by GENOVA DIAGNOSTICS lab, is a very popular test used for food intolerances.  Ask for the “Food Antibody Assessment” and follow the link to find a detailed article discussing the issue of food intolerances.

2) The Imupro test is another commonly used test.In a detailed blood analysis the ImuPro test identifies heightened quantities of specific IgG antibodies against the food.  An individual’s immune profile can be drawn up and determine with certainty which food stuffs the patient’s body can’t cope with.

An Imupro test is beneficial for you, if:

• You can’t tolerate certain foods.
• You often feel tired after a meal.
• You are afflicted by flatulence, constipation, by diarrhea or by irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• You have weight problems and/or your weight changes quite drastically from day to day.
• Your symptoms improve after fasting.
• You suffer from migraine, chronic fatigue, or depression.
• You have to cope with Hyperactivity and/or Attention Deficit problems.

Advantages of Imupro

You will receive:

• results and individual documentation within 2 weeks of the laboratory receiving the blood sample.
• personalized report.
• detailed analysis of foods, colourants and preservatives.
• patient handbook with background information.

Testing panels:

• ImuPro prescreen:  3 food pools
• ImuPro derma:       46 food allergens
• ImuPro ADHD:       90 food allergens
• ImuPro Slim:          145 food allergens
• ImuPro 100:           90 food allergens
• ImuPro 300:           271 food allergens

The ImuPro prescreen test will be deducted if the ImuPro 300 test is undertaken within 30 days.

ImuPro implementation of the test is three steps:

1. Avoidance of foodstuffs with increased quantities of IgG antibodies.
2. Rotation diet with the remaining foodstuffs.
3. Once the avoidance period is over – a gradual reintroduction of foodstuffs.