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Food Allergy
The concept of immune responses to food antigens is useful
in understanding many diseases. Many of the major unsolved disease of our
civilization are either degenerative and/or inflammatory and many are recognized
to be inflammatory, immune-mediated, hypersensitivity diseases. In this book,
a general theory of hypersensitivity disease as a continuum of disease-causing
mechanisms is presented. The term "hypersensitivity" refers to immune-mediated
processes that lead to disease. As we consider the possible role of food
antigens in causing or contributing to immune-mediated diseases, we look for
opportunities to help patients with simple and safe therapeutic strategies such
as diet revision. The basic phenomena that concern us are:
Food antigens activate immune networks.
Activated immune networks produce symptoms
Long-term activation of immune networks causes chronic disease,
often featuring inflammation in target organs.
The food supply is the most abundant and continuous source of
antigenic material.
Rheumatic diseases, autoimmune diseases, multiple
sclerosis, insulin-dependent diabetes, thyroiditis, psoriasis are examples of
hypersensitivity diseases that involve humoral and cell-mediated immunity. The
common specific problems that are related to food allergy include asthma, rhinitis,
atopic dermatitis, urticaria, anaphylaxis, angioedema, allergic
gastroenteropathy, and allergic arthritis.
Many patients will express several of these
hypersensitivity phenomena over a lifetime and demonstrate an underlying
tendency to be hypersensitive. An important concern is the possibility that the
chemical soup created by our civilization drives increasing numbers of
individuals into hypersensitivity illness. The advocates of a broad definition
of food allergy run the risk of being evangelical.
The conviction that food allergy is a ubiquitous cause of
disease comes from knowing the benefits of careful diet revision in medical
practice. In response to allergy lobby groups in the USA, the US Congress passed
a bill that requires notice on the labels of foodstuffs that contain eight of
the most common food allergens. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer
Protection Act, will require plain English labeling beginning in 2006 of
products containing wheat, milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, or
eggs. The bill also requires the Food and Drug Administration to develop a
definition of the term "gluten-free" to help those with celiac disease and who
require a gluten free diet for other reasons.
Rovner J. Reuters Health
Information, Jul 21, 2004. Reported by Medscape online; http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/483914_print
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