Posted June 22, 2010
Elizabeth Good of Roanoke learned that her daughter, Ariel, has food allergies the hard way — by rushing her to the emergency room in a state of anaphylactic shock.
For John Holst of Fairlawn, the realization came in much less dramatic fashion. He felt crummy after eating sometimes, so he eliminated different foods from his diet until he figured out what worked.
Even though Ariel and John fall on opposite ends of the severity spectrum, they and both agree that food allergies are no fun at all.
In the three years I’ve been writing about food, it seems that readers have been calling with increasing frequency to talk about their food allergies. Meanwhile, publishing companies are cranking out cookbooks filled with wheat-free or gluten-free recipes.
Is the incidence of food allergies really on the rise? I looked to some experts to find out.
By definition
Food allergies occur when the immune system reacts to a food protein as if that protein were a threat. The body then releases chemicals into the system in an attempt to fight this perceived threat, and the chemicals cause symptoms that include rashes, hives, itching, wheezing, vomiting and diarrhea.
In severe cases, people may experience anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction that can include swelling of the throat, inability to breathe and loss of consciousness.
Common misconceptions hold that celiac disease and lactose intolerance are food allergies. Celiac disease is a digestive disorder and lactose intolerance is a genetic sensitivity to a natural sugar found in milk.
Luis Matos, a physician with the Asthma and Allergy Center in Roanoke who specializes in food allergies, said the most common cases he sees are milk, egg, wheat, soy, shellfish and meat allergies.
Food allergies can appear when children are young and be outgrown later, Matos said. In other cases, patients do not discover an allergy until they are adults.
There also are some bizarre cases of cross-reaction. For example, I ate stone fruits (those with a pit, such as peaches and cherries) for most of my life with no trouble. But in the past few years, eating these fruits has caused a miserable itching in my throat and ears.
Matos said people who are allergic to birch tree pollen may develop an oral sensitivity to stone fruits because they contain similar proteins. Folks who are highly allergic to ragweed may experience similar problems with melons, he said.
According to a 2006 article by two Duke University doctors, Vaishali Mankad and A. Wesley Burks, allergic diseases such as hay fever and asthma have increased over the past few decades. It also points to several studies that show peanut allergies, in particular, are on the rise. The authors believe additional studies may show an increase in other types of food allergies.
In the article, the physicians mentioned several theories for the increase:
Western culture’s obsession with hygiene prevents exposure to certain infections that actually strengthen a child’s immune system against allergies.
Foods are being introduced too soon in an infant’s diet.
Cooking practices contribute to food allergies. For example, Westerners tend to roast their peanuts, which increases their “allergenic potential,” whereas the Chinese boil their peanuts. Matos said there are virtually no peanut allergies in China.
While researchers work to find patterns and explanations in this fascinating and sometimes mysterious field, those who suffer from food allergies can only alter their diets in the hopes of preventing unwanted symptoms.
Case in point
Ariel Good-Phlegar was just a toddler when her parents discovered she was allergic to “pretty much everything,” her mother said.
After minute exposure to nuts and shellfish, Ariel had to be rushed to the emergency room.
Now 19 and a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, she has outgrown allergies to milk, eggs and other foods but is still highly allergic to nuts, fish and shellfish. She is supposed to carry an EpiPen (which administers a shot of epinephrine, or adrenaline) at all times and does not enter seafood restaurants at all.
Although her mother admits she has worried about her daughter all of her life, Ariel has a nonchalant perspective about her condition.
“I probably don’t pay as much attention to it as I should,” she said.
Mom has a different take. “To this day, I always make sure she has one [an EpiPen],” Elizabeth Good said, “but sometimes she doesn’t take one with her and it scares the crap out of me.”
Holst knew that his wife, Andrea Teague, was allergic to wheat, pork and a variety of spices. But it was just two years ago when he began to notice he suffered from symptoms that mirrored hers, so he stopped eating wheat. When he introduced it to his system, he became very ill.
Holst is an avid baker and used to eat in restaurants once or twice a day, so the discovery meant a major lifestyle change.
He and Teague stopped eating out, with the exception of occasional meals at the Olive Garden, which has a gluten-free menu, and a local Mexican restaurant, where the workers have come to know the couple and their special requests.
On most nights, Holst and Teague come home from work and cook dinner together. They eat “sandwiches” in corn taco shells, make two big pots of rice per week and eat a lot of grits and potatoes.
The only wheat-free product that tastes as good as the original version is gluten-free pasta, Holst said. He has yet to find a substitute for bread.
“If the bread is very fresh, it is good. But after a day, it gets pretty dense and hard,” he said.
After months of experimentation, Holst believes he has hit upon a substitute for all-purpose flour that turns out delicious wheat-free baked goods. He recently made wheat-free cookies with a combination of rice and tapioca flour, cornstarch and xanthan gum and had great success.
Despite the inconveniences, Holst and Teague’s allergies have had a few positive effects. They feel better, and even though specialty foods can be expensive, eating in has ultimately lowered their monthly food bill.
Best of all, the couple are spending more time together.
“One of the nice side effects of it is that we are cooking more regularly and spending several hours in the kitchen each day,” he said. “We cancelled our TV service.”
Lindsey Nair’s column runs in Wednesday’s Extra.
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Editor’s Note: A RAST blood test or a skin prick test can be used to determine Type 1 IgE food allergies. Mediator Release blood testing (MRT) is used to determine non-IgE immune related food sensitivities. For more information on MRT testing go to www.nowleap.com.
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Copyright © 2010, The Roanoke Times, Va.
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