It is an increasingly common phenomenon, more and more varied and appearing without family history. It is undoubtedly linked to changes in our environment and our eating and medical habits.

These intolerances present an extremely diverse symptomatology; they can manifest themselves in the form of asthma, eczema, migraine, depression, behavioral and memory problems, diarrhea, gallstones, fatigue, water retention, weight variations, bulimia, catarrh, epilepsy, mouth ulcers, chronic abdominal pain, dry skin or urticaria

Often, the link between the responsible food and the symptoms is not easy to make. The difficulty in identifying the "culprit" food is that symptoms may appear seconds, minutes, hours, or even days after ingestion of the food in question.

Food sensitivity may be triggered by one of the first foods the baby is given. However, it will only be days, nights, months or even years later that the same food will trigger symptoms of allergy or food intolerance.

Poor diet, lack of sleep, infection, grief, digestive problems, extreme temperatures, smoke or pollution, certain medications, pollutants in the food: these are all factors that can weaken your immune system and make it react abnormally to an otherwise harmless food.

It has been found that gastroenteritis, malnutrition or jaundice can lead to food sensitivity. For example, in the case of celiac disease, the intestine cannot absorb gluten. This phenomenon commonly begins in childhood and often follows gastroenteritis.

It is in fact a manifestation of hypersensitivity by immunological reactions. The symptoms developed are very varied and can range from digestive disorders to skin disorders, including respiratory, joint and urinary disorders.

Trophallergens

These are known complex allergens, present in certain foods, which cause an uncontrolled reaction. They are found in decreasing order of frequency in :

• The vegetables and fruits: celery (the most allergenic food with cow's milk), then parsley, carrots, citrus fruits, exotic fruits, peas, apples... It should be noted the frequency of cross-reactions between allergies to pollens and certain vegetables or fruits (celery and umbellifers, apple and birch).
• The spices: curry, paprika, mustard.
• The cow's milk: it is an extremely allergenic substance according to some because of the proteins it contains, according to others for more subtle energetic or informational reasons. It has been shown that allergic or intolerant reactions to milk can later trigger insulin-dependent diabetes in susceptible individuals (see above). This allergy to cow's milk proteins is often accompanied by an intolerance to lactose (milk sugar) and then, after weaning, by an allergy to gluten, plus the classic procession of ailments of the growing child.

In all cases, the best prevention is breastfeeding for as long as possible to allow the maturation of the general immune system and more specifically of the mucous membranes.

• The egg: it is mainly the albumin in the white that is allergenic. This must be taken into account as a contraindication for certain vaccinations because some vaccines are grown on embryonated chicken eggs.

• The crustaceans such as crab, shrimp or even certain fish are often the cause of various intolerances and allergic reactions.
• The cereals that contain gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and oats. One of its components, gliadin, causes celiac disease. A strict diet should be imposed, excluding the above-mentioned cereals and all their derivatives and preparations to which starch is added. The permitted grains are: rice, buckwheat, millet and spelt.
• The legumes and oil fruits such as soybeans, beans, peanuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts also cause many ailments. However, the oils extracted from these foods are not allergenic.

• Transgenic foods or containing genes from other plant species or even microorganisms (viruses, bacteria) have a slightly different nutrient composition that makes them more resistant to infectious agents, parasites, predators, herbicides, etc., but also makes them much more allergenic. Since almost all food allergens are proteins, transferring a gene coding for a protein from another plant into a transgenic variety can make it allergenic (a precedent for soybeans for livestock required its withdrawal from commerce). However, in the United States, the FDA has authorized the commercialization of transgenic varieties of tomatoes (the first transgenic food commercialized in 1994), cucumbers, beets, soybeans, corn and rapeseed. In Europe, the European Commission remains uncertain about both marketing authorization and transparent labeling.

Other chemical toxins

Food additives

The dyes : they are very numerous and frequently used in food processing (E100 to 180). It is not uncommon for confectionery and beverages to contain at least six or more colorants! They are a common cause of hives in children.

Preservatives : in this category we find sulfites (E220 to 227), widely used in beverages and ready meals, benzoates (E210 to 219) present in sodas and shrimp.

Antioxidants : such as gallates used in fats in the food industry, citrates (wines, fruit preserves, confectionery ...).

Glutamate (E 620): a flavor enhancer used in many preparations (ready meals, seasonings, condiments, drinks). It triggers various allergic reactions with, in addition, potential central (contraindicated in infants and pregnant women) and peripheral (in adults) neurotoxicity. We then witness the Chinese restaurant syndrome with painful flatulence, headaches, tightness, hot flashes followed by chills and various ailments.

Tryptophans : essential amino acids used as additives especially in dairy products. They can be used in high doses as a "natural" remedy for stress and insomnia. They have been banned since 12-05-1992 because of the serious and sometimes fatal reactions they cause. This is the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, which begins with disabling muscle pain, skin thickening and a significant increase in eosinophilic white blood cells, indicating food intolerance.

• Antibiotics of the penicillin family, used in intensive breeding. Traces of these allergenic substances are therefore found in meat and dairy products.
• Nickel frequently appears in trace amounts in industrial foods.
• Moulds (beer and cheese).

Some of the most allergenic foods

• celery
• cow's milk
• cheeses
• the egg
• shellfish
• flours
• the fish
• carrots
• beans
• peanuts
• food additives

Food intolerances

This type of non-immunological reaction has three different origins: metabolic incompatibility, mucosal irritation or pharmacodynamic effect.

Metabolic incompatibility reactions

In some people, the lack of lactase (a digestive enzyme) causes intolerance to cow's milk lactose during the first months of life. The undigested lactose remains in the colon where it ferments. The result is abdominal pain, bloating, gas and diarrhea, gastrointestinal disorders that often defy diagnosis or lead to misdiagnosis. Before you are convinced that you have a serious bowel disease, just make sure that milk is not a factor in your discomfort.

N. B : Yogurt, which is sort of "predigested," on the other hand, would be harmless. The bacteria contained in yogurt can in fact replace lactase in the process of assimilating milk sugar. The bacteria responsible for converting milk into yogurt absorb some of the lactose during this fermentation process and digest a large fraction of the unprocessed lactose that ends up in the intestine. So when you buy yogurt, make sure it contains "active" cultures, which is the case with most commercial yogurts. Also, plain yogurt would digest lactose more vigorously than flavored yogurt.

- Beans and soybeans contain a substance that is toxic to red blood cells. These are destroyed in the absence of a specific enzyme, which leads to severe anemia, resulting in favism. This occurs especially if both of these foods are eaten crusted.

Reactions by irritation of local mucous membranes

They are triggered by food additives such as preservatives (sulfites), antioxidants (orthophosphates, E338 to 341) or emulsifiers derived from cellulose (E460 to 466) and food fatty acids (E470 to 475).

Reactions by pharmacodynamic effect

Some foods are rich in certain substances comparable to those involved in physiological immune and allergic reactions, such as histamine. In both cases, the symptoms are comparable.

What you should know about food allergies

1. The histaminoliberating foods: fish and shellfish, egg whites, certain fruits including strawberries, tomatoes, kiwi and pineapple, oleaginous fruits such as walnuts, hazelnuts and peanuts, legumes such as peas and lentils, chocolate and finally alcohol.
2. Foods rich in reactive amines: among those containing histamine are fermented cheeses, cured meats, sauerkraut, sardines, anchovies, tuna, smoked herring, wine, beer, and canned goods. Foods rich in tyramine include fermented cheeses, cold cuts and game, smoked fish, herring, caviar, wine (white), beer, chocolate and the following vegetables: spinach, cabbage and avocado.

It is obvious that everyone must be attentive to their own organic reactions. These different substances constitute a factor of metabolic overwork and morbidity. Therefore, any type of allergic reaction or intolerance should serve as a warning signal.

It is of course possible to act in prevention of food hypersensitivity reactions. The first step to take, as I mentioned earlier, is to practice breastfeeding, which prevents premature contact of the child with substances foreign to the body.

It is also important to avoid foreign proteins, especially egg whites. I advise you to consume only the yolk cooked in the shell or raw. I am pleased to note that on this point many therapists and dieticians agree with me and Dr. Seignalet.

For food, it is necessary to preserve ourselves as much as possible from all pollutions and contaminations due to intensive agricultural practices and industrial agri-food. Therefore, choose your food among organic products and fresh seasonal and unprocessed products.

It is important to know that, as in the case of allergies, there is no standard treatment for food intolerances, since their origin is extremely varied.

Remember that it is interesting to detect the food or foods responsible. The true origin can be discovered by examinations such as morathérapie. This technique allows us to determine the root cause of the immune system's runaway state. These causes are very diverse: vaccines, antibiotics, additives, pesticides, heavy metals, emotional shock, childhood illnesses... These allergies must be treated with homeopathy, on a case-by-case basis, in order to definitively erase the negative traces left by these aggressions, by correcting the terrain and reinforcing the immune system.

The clinical tests proposed by conventional medicine only determine the allergens without proposing a real solution to the underlying problem.