let food be your medicine and medicine be your food

Hippocrates circa 400BC

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food"

You Are What You Eat

• bloatedness

• diarrhea

• regurgitation

• rashes/flushing

Food = Nutrition

• How your body looks, feels, functions depends largely on what you put in it.

• The body needs a bare minimum of the right food to function.

• 1000 - 1800kcal per day

“What is food to one man may be fierce poison to another”

Lucretius circa 75BC

Food Allergy• Immediate onset IgE-mediated, skin test positive, often self-diagnosed

• Delayed onset IgG-mediated, skin test negative, rarely self-diagnosed

also called: Food Intolerance - UK Food Sensitivity - US

IgE Response to Food• Generally rapid onset after ingestion

• Histamine production is rapid

• Classic ‘Allergic’ response

IgG Response to Food• Food proteins are recognised as “foreign” • Food specific IgG production and formation of antigen/antibody

complexes • Complexes are deposited in tissues and activate complement • Complement and macrophages stimulate Inflammation • Delayed reaction and may last for days

Common Food Intolerances

Cows Milk Cheese Nuts

Gluten Wheat Egg Soya Yeast

• Detect the presence of IgG antibodies to specific foods which may be implicated in food intolerance in symptomatic patients

• Provide a means to identify the foods most likely to cause a problem, provided the symptoms are food related

Food Intolerance Test (FIT)

• ELISA: Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay

• a few drops of blood



• More than 200 food antigens tested

• antibody count >30 • ranked according to

reactivity • interpretation by

physician and/or nutritionist

How does it affect us?

• First tissue of contact

• Persistent inflammation

• Malabsorption

Conditions related to Food IgG• Bloating • Migraines • Insomnia • Weight problems/Obesity • Anxiety • Skin problems • Itchy skin (eczema) • Irritable bowl syndrome • Sinusitis

• Abdominal pain • Allergic rhinitis • Palpitations • Persistent cough • Pre-menstrual

problems

• Flattening of the absorptive surface of the intestines (villi)

• Normal villi

On endoscopy...

Malabsorption• Autoimmune diseases • Headaches • Fatigue • Depression • Arthritis and joint pain/stiffness and swelling • Chronic Respiratory symptoms (wheezing or bronchitis) • Abdominal Pain • Bowel Problems (colitis, diarrhoea, constipation)

Malabsorption

DISEASE

GENETICS ENVIRONMENT

Thank you.

let food be your medicine and medicine be your food

Education