New Hampshire Natural Health Clinic

Can what you eat cause aches and pains?

What you eat does have an impact on your overall health. This creates the need to discuss food not in terms of healthy choices, but if the foods are specifically healthy for you. Most everyone has heard of people with severe food allergies to items like peanuts or shellfish. These food allergies are an immediate hypersensitivity that can cause an anaphylactic reaction resulting in possible death. This is tested by your general practitioner usually by doing a “scratch test”. What is important to know is that this reaction is caused by the part of your immune system regulated by IgE immunoglobulins. Your immune system can also react with foods using different parts of your immune system. In contrast to immediate (IgE) reactions, delayed food reactions can occur through the IgA and IgG immunoglobulins. What does this mean to your health? If you suffer from allergies, asthma, arthritis or any other inflammatory conditions, you should have an IgA and IgG food allergy evaluation.

Delayed food reactions occur for different reasons. IgG food sensitivities can only be measured if food proteins escape from the intestines. These partially digested proteins react with the immune system. IgG food sensitivity tests then measure these leaky proteins. If you are a person with IgG food sensitivities, you should avoid these foods for a short period of time (2-6 months) and heal the intestines to prevent future dietary proteins from escaping. IgA immunoglobulins measures hypersensitivity to foods and is therefore a better indicator of foods you should avoid or eat less often. IgG and IgA delayed food reactions take 3-14 days to develop and hence are difficult to determine without blood tests.

The connection between the delayed food allergies (IgA and IgG) and inflammatory problems like arthritis is due to the production of pro-inflammatories. Many doctors are not familiar with the cascade of immune reactions that occur to produce antibodies in the blood. Once a partially digested food protein escapes from the intestines and enters the blood stream a series of immune cells begin to react with it. In this process proinflammatory cytokines and interleukins (esp. IL-6) are produced. These proinflammatories can be the cause or contribute to a person’s health problems associated with inflammation.

Arthritis or other inflammatory conditions are usually treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids. But this is omitting the single most controllable lifestyle factor; controlling diet. Food sensitivity testing for IgA and IgG should be conducted. Food avoidance and intestinal support programs may then be incorporated in all inflammatory and allergic conditions. In turn, the patient needs to be motivated enough to make the required life style changes for the treatment program to be successful.