2.1 Food Can Make You Ill

Pages 29-43 from The Food Intolerance Handbook
Copyright (c) Sharla Race. All rights reserved.

2.1 FOOD CAN MAKE YOU ILL

It is a common misconception that adverse reactions always occur within minutes of eating the problem food. The following list shows the full range of ways in which food intolerance can manifest itself:

An immediate reaction such as a rash, breathing problems, generalised swelling, mouth ulcers.
A delayed reaction, causing physical symptoms or behavioural changes that can occur anywhere from a few hours to a few days after eating the food.
No immediate reaction but episodic bouts of recurring illness—usually focused on one area whether it be the joints, nose, skin or digestive system.
Recurring bouts of general malaise and flu-like or non-specific symptoms.
A general sense of never really feeling well with no noticeable starting point.
A history of recurring illness—specific and non-specific often leading to periods of crisis in health, frequently starting in childhood and continuing into adulthood.
A sudden down turn in health after serious illness, drug treatment, major stress or trauma.

The result of presenting these symptoms to a doctor is often treatment for a viral infection, depression or stress. As the condition progresses a label may be given—irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome etc... At this point the search for answers usually stops and the search for solutions begins. But if the diagnosis is wrong then the solution will never wholly appear.

There may be improvement but the problem never goes away and the patient becomes the label and may, as time progresses, move on to acquiring even more labels. If you have been diagnosed as having a condition your first step on the road to recovery could very well be to throw out the label you have been given.

Still in doubt? In 1976 Dr Richard Mackarness, writing of the UK, estimated that "30 per cent of people attending GPs have symptoms traceable exclusively to food and chemical allergy; 30 per cent have symptoms partly traceable to this cause, and the remaining 40 per cent have symptoms that are unrelated to allergy."[Mackarness R. Not All In The Mind. Pan 1976.]

Dr Coca, in 1945, estimated that as many as 90% of Americans had one or more food allergies.[Coca AF. Familial Nonreaginic Food Allergy. Charles C Thomas 1945.] In the 1970s Dr Mandell estimated that fifty to eighty per cent of the daily medical practice of most doctors was the "result of allergy and chemical susceptibility".[Mandell M, Scanlon L W. Dr Mandell's 5-Day Allergy Relief System. Thomas Y Crowell 1979.] It is highly unlikely that this has changed.

Symptoms

Some general indicators of food being a problem include:

Feeling unwell all over.
Fluctuating weight.
Occasional swelling of face, hands, feet and more generally.
Persistent stomach problems. Persistent tiredness not helped by sleep or rest.
Sudden changes from feeling well to unwell.
Sudden tiredness or chills after eating.

To give you an idea of the type of problems that food intolerance can cause, lists of symptoms are given below. Each of the symptoms and conditions has been found, in some individuals, to be caused by food. Please do not assume that just because your symptom or condition is listed that food is the cause—check it out with your doctor first. The purpose of these lists is solely to give you an idea of the overwhelming range of symptoms and illness that can be caused by eating food that is not right for you.

Many things can affect the severity and intensity of symptoms. For some people the amount of the food or food chemical may be a significant factor. For others it can be overall health, the amount of sleep they’ve had or the level of different hormones in their system. Hormonal changes, in both men and women, can affect reactions.[Joneja JV. Dietary Management of Food Allergies and Intolerances: A Comprehensive Guide. Second edition. J.A. Hall Publications, 1998.]

Physical problems

A wide range of physical problems have been associated with food intolerance and they include:

Abdominal pain, aching muscles and joints, acne, addictions, arthritis, asthma, athlete's foot.
Bad breath, bedwetting, blackouts, bloating, blood sugar problems, blurred vision, breast pain.
Catarrh, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, coated tongue, colitis, constant hunger, constipation, crawling sensation on skin.
Diarrhoea, difficulty in swallowing, dizziness.
Eczema, excessive thirst, excessive or no sweating.
Fatigue, feeling drained, flushes, food cravings,
Frequent need to urinate, frequent sore throat.
Gall bladder problems, gritty feeling in eyes.
Headaches, heavy body odour, high/low blood pressure, hives.
Indigestion (recurring), insomnia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, itching, itchy and red ears.
Joint pain, stiffness and swelling.
Lethargy.
Menstrual problems, metallic taste, migraine, mouth ulcers, muscle aches, cramps, spasm and tremor, muscle weakness.
Nausea.
Palpitations, persistent cough, poor balance, post-nasal drip, pre-menstrual problems.
Racing pulse, rashes, recurring ear infections, restless legs syndrome.
Sensitivity to light and/or noise, sinusitis, sleep disturbances, sore tongue, stiff neck, styes, sore burning eyes.
Temperature fluctuations, thrush, tics, tinnitus.
Urticaria.
Vertigo.
Watering eyes, weight problems, wheezing.

Whilst this is a frighteningly long list of the ways in which food can make you ill, I personally find it even more worrying that food can also seriously affect your mental health.

Mind, emotions and behaviour

The mind, emotions, and behaviour can all be affected adversely simply by what you eat. The types of problems have included:

Accident proneness, anger for no apparent reason, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd).
Behavioural problems, blankness, brain fogging.
Changes in handwriting, clumsiness, confusion.
Delusions, depression, detached or unreal feeling, difficulty waking up, disorientation, dyslexia.
Feelings of disassociation, feeling tense and ill at ease, fidgeting.
Hallucinations, hearing without comprehension, hyperactivity.
Inability to think clearly, indifference, irritability.
Learning difficulties.
Math and spelling errors, memory loss, mental exhaustion, mood swings.
Panic attacks, phobias, poor concentration, poor self-image, poor memory.
Reading problems, restlessness.
Slow processing information, slurred speech, stammering, suicidal feelings.
Uncontrollable rage.
Weepiness, withdrawn.

Many people are surprised to discover that behaviour, emotions and feelings can be determined by the food we eat but the cells in the brain are just as at risk as any other in the body. Consider how alcohol affects you and how it affects others differently. The same principle applies to food.

The bloodstream carries molecules of chemicals, natural and artificial, throughout the body. In the brain, these chemicals interfere with the chemical and electrical functioning of the brain cells and so affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. It can take a very small amount of a chemical, that your body sees as toxic, to produce an unwanted effect. Some additives and natural food chemicals, such as salicylate, are very similar in structure to some of the brain's neurotransmitters and, when these are wrongly identified by the body, internal chaos begins. Emotional factors are, most definitely, not the only explanation for mental disturbances.

Rinkel, Randolph and Zeller showed that removing foods, and then reintroducing them into the diet, could lead to the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of a variety of “psychological” symptoms including catatonia, delusions, depression, feeling drugged, hallucinations, headaches and paranoia.[Rinkel H J, Randolph TG, Zeller M. Food Allergy. Thomas 1951.]

Dr Mumby writes that he has seen allergy (food and environmental) lead to "heightened sexual feelings, murderous assault, schizophrenic psychosis, woolly thinking, hallucination, hyperactivity, depression, anxiety, learning difficulties, dyslexia and autism."[Mumby K. Food Allergies and Environmental Illness: the complete guide to. 1993 Thorsons.]

Speer in his book Allergy of the Nervous System, published in 1970, presents evidence that shows that emotional and neurological symptoms arising from allergies have been recorded since the 1920s.[Speer G. Allergy of the Nervous System. Thomas 1970.] In fact, in 1905, Francis Hare, an Australian doctor, wrote Food Factor in Disease in which he gave numerous examples of people whose symptoms include “mental problems” that were caused by various foods.[Hare, Francis. The Food Factor in Disease. London: Longmans, Vol. I, II, 1905.]

Dr Randolph, at the time of writing his book, had treated about 20,000 people for food allergies and related problems having dealt with "every kind of chronic illness on an allergic basis". About 37.5 per cent of these people were primarily suffering from “mental problems”; many were helped significantly often when conventional treatments had failed. He says that allergy can be responsible for a "host of so-called mental problems, including some cases of what looks like outright psychoses".[Randolph TG, Moss R W. An Alternative Approach to Allergies: The new field of clinical ecology unravels the environmental causes of mental and physical ills (revised edition). Perennial Library, Harper & Row 1990.]

Dr Philpott, in his book on Brain Allergies, provides us with numerous examples including:

hyperactivity in a child being caused by string beans;
violent anger in a woman that was triggered by oranges;
sensitivity to wheat in a seventeen year old who had been classed as mentally ill for three years;
watermelons leading to depression and irritability in a twelve year old;
manic depression being caused by milk in a thirty year old patient.

Dr Philpott cites many other cases where people's “psychological” problems have in fact turned out to be reactions to food, chemicals in the environment, preservatives and additives, non-caking agents in table salt, and chlorinated water.[Philpott W H, Kalita D H. Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient and Magnetic Connections. Keats 2000.]

What surprises, and saddens, me greatly is that this information is not more widely available and that it is not embraced by the medical profession. You are still more likely to be given pills, hospitalised or told there is nothing wrong with you than have your diet and environment examined for clues to your condition.

There is now an acceptance and understanding that certain drugs will have side effects that produce a change in behaviour. In fact some drugs are designed to do exactly that—change how you behave and feel. If we accept that drugs do this, often with little understanding of how, why can we not accept that food and the chemicals within food can do the same?

Let's just briefly look at two hypothetical examples. I am taking more time to explore the links between food and the mind because this is a seriously neglected area of study and you need to know that it is not only your body that is at risk from poisoning by the food you eat.

In our first example, twenty-six year old Josh complains of being tired all the time. He is irritable, has no energy and little interest in anything. He is a busy individual with many responsibilities and says he is feeling under stress yet has previously coped quite adequately with far busier and more demanding times in his life. He also has fleeting joint pains, migraines and a recurring rash. A battery of tests identify no physical problem and the doctor is likely to agree with the diagnosis of “stress”. Josh may also be prescribed exercise to help joint mobility, pain killers for the migraine, and ointment for the rash. None of which will help identify and then treat the cause of the problem.

In our second example, forty-five year old Carol has developed agoraphobia. Her husband died a year ago and she now finds herself unable to leave the house. Prior to his death and for the first two months after his death she had no symptoms of agoraphobia. The most obvious diagnosis would be that the agoraphobia was brought on by the bereavement and to recommend a course of counselling. But would something different emerge if Carol was asked about any other changes in her life?

In both the above cases it is easy to see how the diagnoses were arrived at but what if Josh had quite simply reached a time in his life when his body just could no longer cope with the diet he was eating—maybe his sensitivity to wheat, which he eats at every meal, had reached crisis point.

What if Carol's problem was that her husband had been the cook and her diet had changed dramatically from homemade meals to take-outs and microwave dinners. The end result being that she was taking in additives and MSG to such an extent that they were affecting her brain, increasing her anxiety and preventing her from leaving the house? There have been studies (some are mentioned in Martin's book The Sickening Mind [Martin P. The Sickening Mind: Brain Behaviour, Immunity and Disease. Harper Collins 1997.]) that show the immune function of the bereaved partner is diminished in the weeks after the death. This reduction in function could have been the key factor in stopping her body processing the cocktail of chemicals she was now eating. She could in fact always have been sensitive to MSG or an additive. Had she ever in the past experienced a similar problem?

Five, ten or fifteen minute consultations will never provide these answers. If you truly want to get well, you need to be an active participant in the process. Your doctor only knows your symptoms not you. Food intolerance can cause problems across the behavioural spectrum from manic “happy” behaviour to severe depression.

We seemed to have reached a point in our history where we too easily blame our mental states on inherent personality flaws or stress. Yet it could just be what you are eating. I had certainly never experienced the calm that I now have until I changed my diet. I thought that my anxiety, mood swings and hyperactivity were just part of who I was. They were not—they were only symptoms arising from substances that my body saw as toxins.

Perhaps the most dangerous diagnosis of the modern age, aside from “stress” is that of psychosomatic illness. This is when no physical cause can be found for the symptoms you have and the doctor therefore assumes that they must be being induced by your mental state. This assumption becomes a diagnosis that may lead to some form of talking therapy, a suggestion to reduce stress or no action at all. All three of these will be totally ineffective in relieving symptoms in the long term. If your body is being poisoned by the food you eat, or the chemicals in your environment, then you will continue to be ill until these are removed and you begin to recover.

Dr Philpott writes: "According to Randolph—and my experience bears this out—more than half of the so-called psychosomatic reactions are in reality undiagnosed allergic reactions."[Philpott W H, Kalita D H. Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient and Magnetic Connections. Keats 2000.] And Rapaport suggests that: "If mental illness caused by allergies were recognised more, and emotional factors not always sought to explain mental disturbances, a great deal of time and money could be saved, and people's mental conditions eliminated."[Rapaport HG. The Complete Allergy Guide. Simon and Schuster, 1970.]

Just living...

Food intolerance does not just lead to physical and mental symptoms. It affects all areas of your life including your appearance, relationships, work, leisure activities, and self-esteem. The ways in which it can affect your appearance include:

You can look fatter and flabbier than the “real” you actually is. Bloating/swelling can occur on your face, legs, ankles and feet, around your abdomen, thighs and buttocks.
You could spend a fortune on products trying to clear your cellulite with no success when all you need to is change your diet.
Your skin will probably not be at its best. It could be too oily, dry, or covered in a rash or spots that you just cannot clear.
Your eyes could have a discharge, be bloodshot or cloudy, seem very small due to swollen eyelids, feel grainy and tired. At times, your vision may be blurred and your eyes could be light sensitive.
Your lips could be cracked, sore and swollen. Your tongue may be coated, sore and swollen and your mouth plagued with ulcers. And, regardless of how thorough a dental hygiene programme you have, you could have bad breath.
Your nose could be swollen, constantly running, itchy or red in colour.
Your hair, no matter what you do with it, could be lank, excessively dry or oily.
If you are constantly feeling ill you probably look tired, miserable and, maybe, even sad or anxious.
Clothes and shoes won't always fit—one day they'll be fine, the next too tight and uncomfortable.

Some of the other ways in which food intolerance can have an impact on your life include:

Limiting the activities you can do due to, for example, fatigue and joint pain.
Work can become increasingly stressful when you are plagued with problems due to brain fogging that affect your ability to concentrate and lead to memory problems.
You may have been passed over at work because of excessive time away due to sickness. You may even have had to give up your career.
Relationships can be put under serious strain by constantly having to deal with a partner's seemingly unexplainable bouts of low energy, forgetfulness, irritability, depression, mood swings, seeming distant and far away, anxiety, and obsessive behaviour.

Not all illness is food related but...

As the studies below demonstrate, it can be the sole cause or a major factor for many individuals and in a wide range of conditions.

Without food we would die and given this crucial role that food plays in our lives it does seem strange that its role in illness (and health) is not more fully acknowledged and used in treatments.

The cost to the individual is enormous—loss of health and a deterioration in the quality of life. The financial cost to society of continuously treating recurring conditions is enormous yet treatments relying on food avoidance cost virtually nothing, except time, in comparison. This is highlighted in an experiment with phlebitis sufferers.

Rea et al divided twenty individuals with recurrent intractable non-traumatic phlebitis into two groups, matching them for age and severity. The control group continued on their usual anticoagulant treatment, bed rest and support hose. The other group were placed in an “Environmental Control Unit” where all the air, water and food could be controlled. All medication, for this group, was stopped. In eight out of ten, of this group, the phlebitis was found to be triggered by food sensitivities and inhaled chemicals such as formaldehyde.

In a five year follow up study this group showed two 48 hour episodes of phlebitis cleared by home bed rest and food abstinence. In contrast, the control group had more than sixty episodes of phlebitis at home and forty one episodes in hospital. Medical costs in these comparable groups showed a differential of $20 per person in the Environmental Control Unit treatment versus more than $20,000 per person in the control group over the five year follow up.[Rea WJ, Peters DW, Smiley RE, Edgar R, Greenberg M, Fenyves E. Recurrent environmentally triggered thrombophlebitis: a five year follow-up. Ann Allergy 1981;(5Pt1):338-44.]

The cost to society is not just financial, it is also a massive loss of work time, creativity and energy. Changing your diet can change your life and, by doing so, affects everyone you come into contact with and everything that you do.

In October 2000, the British government apologised for the mistakes and delays that took place during the BSE crisis. Wrong advice was given to the public about the dangers of eating beef and people died, and continue to do so, from the human variant CJD. It took 15 years for this apology to materialise and the report cast serious doubts on our ability to believe government reassurances and advice on food safety. What struck me at the time of this report was that it had taken deaths and very specific scientific proof that these were linked with mad cow disease before any real action was taken.

The long term debilitating effects of food substances such as additives and artificial sweeteners are not visible in the same way but this does not mean they do not exist. Will sufferers ever receive an apology? Will we ever be totally able to rely on government advice? Can we truly trust others with our health?

If you think that food, in some form, might be affecting your health please do not let yourself be dismissed by health care professionals. Persist—it is your life, your health. You might be wrong but you might be right. There comes a time when you have to set the advice aside, find out more for yourself and listen to your body. There is only one person who is going to take your health totally seriously and that is you.

next - 2.2 Food Can Make You Ill