Gut Instinct
13 Dec 2011 04:47:46 AM
Understanding Food Intolerance and the Links to Food Cravings and Chronic Illnesses
“Mary” came to me asking how she had developed food intolerances as an adult. As she told me more about her health issues, it emerged that her fibromyalgia (chronic muscle pains) fitted a class cases of chronic intestinal infections following weak immunity. Here’s a brief of Mary’s story: She had been given a lot of antibiotics as a girl, for earaches and chesty coughs. At 17 she had Glandular Fever (Mononucleosis) that took a good while to get over, and she wondered if it still comes up when she is stressed and tired. Every year she needs a couple of courses of antibiotics for bad chesty colds or sometimes for sinusitis. When asked if she often gets thrush, she flushed and asked how did I know.
Yeast or fungal infections lasting over many years are an important sign the intestines have become home to several unfriendly bacteria and fungi, and the immunity and probiotic levels are very low. For women this often shows as vaginal itching and discharge. Men may have “jock itch” especially in summer.
As we talked some more she mentioned a lot of bloating, and that bread and beer were the worst at doing this. (“They make me look 3 months pregnant, people are always asking!”). Mary’s muscle pains symptoms had lasted now for 2 years. She has frequent headaches, feels extremely tired, to the point it is hard to keep working. As well as this she is sleeping terribly, and “that is becoming depressing,” she told me, with some tears and anxiety on her face as she worried out loud if she can get better.
Many people suffer from food hypersensitivity and intolerance, and are often not aware of it, just like Mary (we found her intolerances were wheat, milk, yeast and cola nut – she had loved colas to keep her energy going!)
And worse still sufferers may love the food, even crave for what is making them worse. In Mary’s case bread, and sugar were her cravings, both feeding the fungal overgrowths she has inside her.
Do you love pasta, bread, or ice-cream so much you crave for it frequently? Could that be a case of food intolerance and the gut instinct has gone wrong?
Food intolerance is not to be confused with food allergies. A food allergy happens when the immune system over-reacts to certain food particles, causing the body to mistakenly produce antibody (IgE) to “fight off” the otherwise harmless antigens. The slightest exposure to the food particle is enough to trigger a food allergy—and that is uncomfortable—like itching, scratching or sneezing. These symptoms of an allergic reaction almost occur immediately. Sometimes it includes swelling of the lips, mouth and throat, even an alarming shortness of breath with wheezing.
Food intolerance, on the other hand, is more common and often goes unnoticed because symptoms can arise hours or days after the food is ingested. These symptoms might be as mild as gas and bloating, or as severe as arthritis and chronic fatigue. One of the most common types is intolerance of lactose. Many people have a shortage of the enzyme lactase to break down a type of sugar in the milk called lactose. Without lactase, symptoms of an irritable gassy bowel, diarrhea and cramps often occur. (Certain strains of probiotics can help you digest sugars like lactase and reduce gas and bloating. Ask our dispensary team for more information.)
Immune system does get involved in food intolerance—rather than the fast acting IgE and histamine, the reaction is by IgG antibodies. These reactions tend to first affect the liver then move into weaker body tissues and “agglutinate”—get stuck—there and cause delayed reactions of inflammation. Intolerances to gluten or wheat, for example, gradually cause inflammatory antibodies to accumulate first in the intestines (which swell up), but may travel to the skin (eczema), or joints (arthritis).
The other major effect of the reactions is to cause food cravings. This happens when inflammation in the liver induced by the food intolerance causes a chemical reaction that leads to low blood sugar levels (reactive hypoglycemia). The craving is usually not only for the sugar, but also a sugar mix with the triggering food (e.g. wheat flour in bread, biscuits, or maybe milk chocolate).
Food Intolerance and Chronic Illness
Food intolerance is important because it is very often linked to chronic diseases such as fibromyalgia, eczema, asthma, arthritis pains, irritable bowl syndrome, chronic fatigue and even depression or hyperactivity. Food intolerance may be the major factor causing these illnesses, or it may exacerbate the underlying genetic predisposition.
A case of food intolerance often develops in adulthood, unlike allergies that tend to go away as children grow up. In adults, food intolerance often begins with weak immunity, generally induced by stress or the lack of vitamin D or vital minerals such as zinc or probiotic gut flora.
When the immune system is weak, we become prone to common germs, bacteria or fungal infections. Antibiotics are often given to treat the infections by fighting off bacteria, but they also reduce the immune supporting good bacteria called probiotics—by as much as 60%—in the intestine. This severe reduction in probiotics further cripples the already weak immunity. Healthy probiotics promote immunity and reduce infections, especially important within the intestines. When depleted a residual infection may remain in the intestines and often a new fungal infection or “thrush” develops.
Mary related to this story, and I told her that these chronic low-grade infections make the intestines weak and “leaky”—food particles can then cross the intestinal lining and get into the blood before being properly digested making food intolerances worse.
The immunity has to protect the body from this undigested food, and the IgG antibodies are one means to do this.
Now Mary understood the flow of how food intolerances can develop after stress, infection and antibiotics, and she was ready to follow a diet, get help clearing up the infections and rebuild her intestines and immunity. She went through a 4-month recovery program, and her fibromyalgia did get better by treating her gut (she also had excessive bacterial overgrowth in her small intestine as well as fungal problems).
A Vicious Cycle
When low-grade or recurring infections are allowed to continue to develop, the immune system gets more and more inflammed. At this point it becomes a vicious cycle—more antibiotics are prescribed to treat the new and remaining infections and inflammations. Antibiotics again reduce probiotics and weaken the immunity.
Over time, antibiotic-resistant bacteria roam free in the intestines and cause inflammatory problems in the bowels, sinus or tonsils. The person may become susceptible to intestinal parasites. These all cause inflammation, swellings and low-grade episodes of intestinal pain. Inflammation is associated with inflammatory hormones called cytokines. Certain cytokines (IL-17 and IL-6) will activate allergic and food intolerance reactions, cause chronic fatigue and can produce symptoms anywhere in the body.
So far we have covered blood sugar swings, chronic pains and inflammations, fatigue, intestinal upsets, and liver stress. If this all goes on for long, and especially if medical drugs like anti-inflammatories and steroids are given, the liver gets so overloaded it eventually cannot detoxify and then comes chemical sensitivity to smoke, alcohol, yeast, fungus, and fumes. Symptoms aggravate when exposed to those chemicals.
Somewhere along this path, mental and emotional symptoms also arise—at first mood-swings and poor concentration, then fatigue, next lowered motivation and depression as the basket of symptoms seem to have no end and no commonly understood medical solution. Many drug treatments actually make the situation worse—antibiotics already mentioned. Most anti-inflammatories cause the intestines to become more “leaky”. Steroids weaken immunity. Pain medications like acetaminaphin (Panadol) makes the liver more damaged and toxic. Anti-depressants and Ritalin completely overlook the cause.
These underlying immune stresses can progress to more serious diseases – the auto-immune diseases - if they are left untreated.
Breaking the Cycle
The most common treatment recommended for food intolerance is to cut the questionable food out of the diet. However, permanently avoiding a large selection of food is not sensible, as good nutrition is vital to fight chronic illness. Repeatedly eating only a small selection of food tends to make the intolerances worse and the root cause is never properly addressed.
So what can you do to break the cycle?
The illness starts in the intestines, so this is where the healing needs to start. Re-establishing immunity is the key, and you can do so with the help of zinc, probiotics, omega oils and vitamin A and D. Balancing your stressful lifestyle and minimising junk foods are also important steps to rebuild your immunity.
Infections and intolerance must be identified through tests. Removing the infections is the most critical part to recovery. Clearing digestive infections such as Candida can take up several months. During this time, usually up to 12 weeks, it is necessary to cut out the intolerance-producing food.
After removing the infections and food intolerance, repairing the gut lining, and ensuring plenty of probiotics are re-inoculated is the next phase. Within a few more weeks the immunity regains healthy function, pains reduce or go away completely, energy returns, and people report feeling like they are feeling well—like that haven’t in years.
We will explain more on ways to take care of the gut and overcoming Food Intolerances, Leaky Gut and Fungal, Bacterial and Parasitic Intestinal Infections in the upcoming Wellness News. Stay tuned.
Make positive changes for your health and wellness, one step at a time. We at IMI can help you protect your health and achieve long-term goals of total wellness. Visit our website www.imi.com.hk or stay connected on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/imihk. For more information, call 2523 7121.
