From: Mark O'Leary
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 10:21
AM
> For those of us who suffer from allergies, your symptoms are not
> unusual. One of the things that a lot of food additives do is react with
> airways and sinuses making them swell. There are reference guides
> that tell you what type of reaction particular additives are responsible
> for which can explain why your head stuffs up, or why some kids bounce
> off the walls for a day or two if they drink too much red cordial or eat
> too many red frogs.
I'd be wary of most of most of these
'reference guides'; the relationship between food additives and allergies
(or intolerances) is not well understood. The purported effects of food
additives are rarely demonstrated when subjects take part in placebo-controlled
trials.
Naturally-occurring food components cause vastly more health problems than do the much-maligned food additives. Peanuts, for example, are reported to cause about 100 deaths per annum in the US alone. Other foods commonly associated with food intolerance include other nuts, seafoods, cow's milk (especially as "cow's milk allergy" in children and as "lactose intolerance" in most people who are not of European origin), egg white, gluten-containing foods (for people with coeliac disease).
In another message sent tonight I provide advice from two dietitians on reputable websites or other sources of information on food allergy/intolerance.
Two subscribers to Nut-Net replied to my request this week for reputable contacts/websites about food allergy.
FIRST MESSAGE (included):
You can refer people to my webpage:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/allergydietitian
I have listed a number of very useful links,
helpful books, and references,
for those who want to read the recent
scientific literature. I'm not sure,
whether the RPAH website is up and running
yet.
Harris Steinman's AllergyAdvisor software
is an comprehensive resource for
browsing food substances, reactions, literature.
Anyone serious about
diagnosing food reactions should have
access to the software. A demo can be
downloaded at:
SECOND MESSAGE (included):
Maybe a useful email address for allergy is through the RPAH allergy unit:
They have heaps of dietitians doing only
allergy.
Chris Forbes-Ewan
