Living with Food Allergies Carnival #8

Welcome to the January 10, 2008 edition of the Living with Food Allergies Carnival. Thanks to Rational Jenn for getting this ball rolling. We are now on the 8th Edition, with lots of good information and helpful tips.

Rational Jenn presents The Latest Food Allergy Stuff posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "My thoughts and ramblings on some recent food allergy news."

My Buddy Mimi presents Heart-healthy meets dairy-free posted at My Buddy Mimi.

Alisa presents Season's Eatings posted at BitterSweet, saying, "Cinnamon Buns! Dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and delicious!"

Alisa presents Food Allergy Prevention Advice Turns on its Head posted at Go Dairy Free.

Leslea Harmon from allergyware.com presents Has Harper's Gone Nuts? posted at Allergy News - All the News That Itches, saying, "I have drafted several responses to Ms. Broussard, each in a varying state of grace."

Nowheymama presents Crayons, Church Ladies, and Communion posted at No Whey, Mama, saying, "A dairy-free communion bread recipe!"

Victoria Groce presents Seeds and Tree Nut Allergies posted at About.com Food Allergies.

I myself have submitted another response to the Broussard Bruhaha: Everyone's Gone Nuts About Food Allergies posted at Check My Tag Community.



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of living with food allergies carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Global Warming and Food Allergies

It seems any and all of our problems can be traced back to... Global Warming! Are you serious??! Apparently, allergy specialist Johannes Ring from the Munich Technical University is quite serious. He told a press conference that allergies today affected every third European. Ring said. "Most allergies start with skin problems, even food allergies."

His theory is that pollen-spreading trees bloom longer now due to climate change, adding to the number of allergies. Also, the number of foreign plants moving into Europe are causing new allergies.

Maybe I'm being a bit of a cynic but does this little blip of a story have anything to do with Earth Times creating some relevance during Food Allergy Week? Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch too.

Yet another reason to stop driving your cars and for goodness sake, if you're moving to a different country, just leave the plants behind. :)

Total Allergen Load Theory

It seems reasonable enough... it's what our pediatrician has referred to as a dose reaction. Or, what our chiropractor alluded to when he says, "food allergies are a result of a complex system of interactions." Basically, the Total Allergen Load Theory suggests that a single exposure to a single allergen may not trigger an allergic response but if the same body is exposed to multiple stressors on the immune system in a short period of time, this person may experience an allergic reaction.

Think of your child's immune system as a glass. The amount of water in the glass is the total load of allergens in the system. Water can be added to the glass but at some point, it will overflow. The overflow point is the point when your child experiences allergic symptoms. In this analogy, immunotherapy makes the glass taller. Strict avoidance prevents more water from filling the glass. And, stress on the body makes the glass shorter.

The Creighton University Medical School website provides this illustration: a child drinks milk everyday without any reactions. When ragweed is in the air and he continues to drink milk, he starts to react to milk. If he were to avoid the milk during ragweed season, this theory suggests he will lessen the "allergic load" and reduce allergic symptoms.

Your child's allergy load can be increased by exposure to several allergens in small amounts, or a combination of allergens to which he is mildly allergic and some to which he reacts severely.

In his article Stewart Hare, an author and nutritional therapist makes an interesting point, "A common misleading factor about overload is that the last overload factor that is introduced is the only culprit for producing symptoms." So, maybe T was never really allergic to strawberries but had strawberries after he had dairy products and after rolling around with the dogs!

The Total Load Theory could explain why we coasted through the winter and have had allergy flare-ups this spring. It also validates my detox approach for treating our food allergies.

Toxins and Food Allergy

Last summer, I blogged about our experience with a chiropractor whose treatment plan for Tanner focused on detoxification. He explained to us that his allergies were caused by toxins in his system that were overwhelming his immune system and throwing them off-balance. As I continue to do more research on possible causes, treatments and resources for food allergies, I'm finding that there is more substantiation for this point of view. Dr. Kenneth Bock, author of Healing the New Childhood Epidemics points to increased toxification as the primary factor in the increase of asthma, allergy, autism and ADHD. Of course, toxins are everywhere... in our water, air and food!

I could bore you with information on all the types of toxins that pervade our daily existence but in the interest of time and sanity, let's focus on food, shall we? As the overzealous label-readers that we are, I don't have to tell you what is in the food we are feeding our children. Dr. Bock says that "The average intake of essential nutrients – including vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids – has steadily declined since the 1980s, and the eating of unhealthy foods has increased. In particular, there has been an increase in the consumption of saturated fats, hydrogenated trans-fats, sugars, and refined carbohydrates." This is important because without the proper nutrients, the body cannot detoxify itself.

There are other medical studies that support the idea that diets with refined oil products contribute to allergic diseases, as do maternal diets with saturated fats.

So on the doctor's advice, we continue to feed our kids real food, which amazingly enough, is hard to do nowadays! Other than the box of Lucky Charms that somehow makes it into the pantry every time daddy goes to the grocery store, we stick with organic. With growing season at our door, we are excited about visiting the local farmers market for fresh fruits and veggies.