It’s not a Food Allergy; maybe it’s a Food Intolerance

So you have severe bloating, and belching, problems w/ elimination and general abdominal discomfort and growing fatigue and other vague medical symptoms. Or you may have been diagnosed w/ either Crohn’s disease or Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the standard procedures are not working for you. You suspect your regular MD thinks you are a hypochondriac but he has agreed to test you for IGE allergies.

But they come back all negative. So now what??

You may need to be tested for IgG food intolerances; a problem that functional medicine and nutritionally minded doctors have been helping with for years but conventional medical doctors are just beginning to look at this phenomenon.

Unlike IgE food allergies that will cause an immediate and maybe deadly reaction such as difficulty breathing or a skin rash or a swollen tongue (think E for emergency); a IgG food intolerance is a delayed reaction, maybe causing problems 3-21 days after the ingestion of the food that is problematic for you and your digestive system (think G for general or non-specific problems).

So one of the problems in testing is the wide number of food suspects due to the long period of time that is required for your body to react to a IgG food intolerance. This can be expensive.

And the FDA is still saying that the IgG food testing is experimental and therefore insurance companies can deny coverage.

So one of the procedures I do in my Applied Kinesiology practice, is to do a “presumptive” muscle test challenge using muscles associated to digestion via the Chinese meridian/acupoint system such as the Pectoralis Clav Major. If the muscle is strong, the patient then contacts the neuro-lymphatic point for that muscle as I place a food into their mouth and have them chew the food in order to stimulate taste receptors on the tongue and activate gustatory receptors in the brain.

If a particular food causes the muscle to then test “weak” after stimulating these receptors, then the patient is asked to stop eating that particular food for one month’s time.

If the patient has good insurance, then we may order IgG food Intolerance test as we has narrowed the field of possible suspects. Sometimes this is not financially possible for the patient.

However when IgG testing is possible, the results show a 80-100% correlation w/ the results of the muscle test in my practice.

While the patient is avoiding the suspected foods, I will advise the patient on healing their leaky gut syndrome (also called increased intestinal permeability)

A leaky gut is the result of damage to the intestinal lining from years of abuse via the food intolerance. Leaky gut is also caused by other factors such antibiotic overuse, prescription and over-the counter drugs and excessive alcohol consumption.

A leaky gut is less able to protect the internal environment as well as to filter needed nutrients and other biological substances. As a consequence, some bacteria and their toxins, incompletely digested proteins and fats, and waste not normally absorbed may “leak” out of the intestines into the blood stream.

And as our intestines have a layer of lymphatics, a leaky gut can trigger an autoimmune reaction, which can lead to gastrointestinal problems such as abdominal bloating, excessive gas and cramps, fatigue, food sensitivities, joint pain, skin rashes, and autoimmunity.

It’s a vicious cycle that is helped by removal of the offending food and repair w/ L- glutamine, an amino acid that helps maintain intestinal metabolism and function, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), selectively stimulate the growth and activity of “friendly” bacteria in the intestinal tract such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis, FOS also have been shown to help restore and maintain mucosal integrity and aid in the adequate absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.

Adjustment of the spinal segments which help innervate the gut, stimulation of Chinese acupoints on meridrians involved w/ digestion and the neuro-lymphatic and neuro-vascular points are also part of the patient’s treatment; this offers a whole body approach to the patient’s problem.

For more information on IgG food Intolerance testing, please see:

http://www.lab21.com/healthcare/igg_antibodies.php

© 2010-Dr. Vittoria Repetto