Immune Complex Food Sensitivity

These occur when antibodies attack allergens but don't manage to kill them. The result is an allergen (called an antigen) with an antibody stuck to it. This creates a whole new animal (an antigen-antibody complex) that the body doesn't recognize. When this happens, the 'new animal' starts circulating around the body, and this circulatory immune complex, or CIC, can eventually lodge in tissue.

CICs create many of the same reactions as classic allergies. When they circulate through or lodge in tissues, such as those of the kidneys, lungs, liver, or joints, they can cause terrible problems by starting immune and inflammatory responses. They can cause joint problems similar to arthritis, and they can cause organs to malfunction. They often interfere with the body's filtering mechanisms, such as the lymphatic system and kidneys. Some researchers believe they contribute to many types of kidney disease, some of which are eventually fatal.

Sometimes, people with serious CIC problems experience widespread conditions — such as migraines, kidney problems, and joint pain — and never realize that all of these problems have a single cause.

Frequently, patients come to me hoping only to lose weight, but when they resolve problems such as excessive CIC production, they also overcome other serious health conditions. One recent patient, for example, not only lost 22 pounds but also recovered from chronic joint pain, migraines, and gallbladder inflammation. This patient was happy to lose her weight, but was overjoyed to solve the other problems. Of course she had to make a serious commitment to her health and change her lifestyle. But she enjoyed the whole process, because she felt so much better every step of the way.

This reinforced my belief in the adage, 'If you just strive for thin, you'll never win. Strive for health, and thin will follow.'

Now you know about the risk factors that make you vulnerable to food reactions, and you know how food reactions work. Good for you! You now have more knowledge about this subject than many doctors do.

Now that you have a good foundation of knowledge, you'll be able to understand why food reactions cause bloating and swelling. Once you understand this, you need never again be a victim of false fat.

Overweight and Food Sensitivity Rule No 1: Delayed Reactions

These are the single most common cause of false fat.

Arguably, delayed food reactions cause as many health problems as some of the most horrific of life's various risk factors, such as smoking or stress. The effects are often subtle and accumulate slowly, but the harm is undeniable. Without a doubt, delayed food reactions cause weight gain. Because 300,000 people die each year from obesity-related problems, anything that exacerbates weight gain is a serious issue.

Therefore, the average person's ignorance about delayed food reactions is a serious public health problem. Don't let yourself be a victim of this lack of knowledge!

Delayed food reactions are very similar to classic allergies. The biggest difference is that when you have sensitivities, you often don't notice symptoms right after you eat. Sometimes it can take as long as three days for symptoms to appear. The reason for the delay is that this type of food reaction is caused by a different antibody than the one that causes classic food allergies, and it takes longer for allergens to come in contact with this antibody. This antibody, IgG (or immunoglobulin G), is found only in the bloodstream, so food molecules need to reach the-bloodstream for problems to occur. As long as food macromolecules stay in the digestive tract, no symptoms may appear. Sometimes food molecules move out of the digestive tract almost immediately, but sometimes they don't.

When reactive food macromolecules do eventually meet up with IgG antibodies, the antibodies wage the same basic type of battle fought by IgE antibodies, which cause classic allergies. The IgG antibodies call the immune system into the fight, and histamines and other chemicals are released, causing swelling and other symptoms.

The IgG antibodies are by far the most common antibodies in the body. They're three times more common than the IgE antibodies that cause classic allergies; that's one reason delayed food reactions are more common than classic allergies.

Because IgG reactions are delayed, people are often unaware of their real cause. If you feel a symptom on Monday morning, it may be hard to link it to something you ate Friday night.

Another reason people are often unaware of their IgG reactions is that these reactions often don't occur in obvious places, such as the skin, as do classic IgE allergies.

Even though an IgG reaction may not be obvious, it can still be very harmful. For example, if you're allergic to bee stings and get an IgE reaction on your skin from a sting, you'll be sure to notice and treat it. However, an internal IgG reaction to a food may ultimately cause you much more generalized, systemic swelling than a bee sting; it's like getting a bee sting to the whole body. But because your reaction is spread over your whole body, you may not be very aware of it. All you'll notice is that you don't feel good and have more bloating and swelling. After you've read this book, though, and learned what to look for, I guarantee that you will notice how drastically food reactions affect your body.

Another antibody that can cause delayed reactions is IgA. IgA fights at the front lines — at the mucous membrane sites and in the digestive tract itself — trying to stop allergens from being absorbed by the body in the first place. To do this, it stimulates secretion of mucus, which blocks absorption.

Studies show, though, that almost half of all Americans don't secrete enough IgA. Non-reactive people secrete 3,000 to 5,000 mg of IgA every day, but some reactive people don't secrete much at all. If you're low on IgA, sooner or later a reactive food molecule will work its way through your intestinal wall and cause a reaction. The more reactive foods you eat, the more likely you'll be to use up your supply of IgA and lose your front-line force against food reactions.

Therefore, if you do 'cheat' and eat an allergenic food, it's smart not to eat too much of the food. One jam doughnut might get blocked by IgA, but three doughnuts may overwhelm your forces and push you past your allergic threshold.

Another factor that depletes IgA is use of certain medications, including antibiotics, antacids, ulcer drugs, cortisone and aspirin. Again, as you can see, it's not just what you eat that can hurt your metabolism and make you fat.

The Risk Factors That Cause Food Reactions (6-10)

Risk Factor 6. We eat too much at once.

Overeating causes food reactions by overwhelming the digestive system. Unfortunately, reactions also cause overeating by creating food cravings, and this destructive cycle ruins many lives. The problem gets even worse when people eat the exact foods that cause them to experience reactions. This often happens, however, because of the cravings caused by allergic addiction.

Overeating also disrupts the immune response, which further heightens food reactions.

Risk Factor 7. We're under too much stress.

Stress hurts digestion. When you're under stress, your stresshormones — such as adrenaline and cortisol — take blood away from your organs of digestion and shift it to the fight-or-flight organs and systems, such as the muscles, eyes, and heart. Sometimes, when you're nervous, you feel this loss of circulation in your digestive system as butterflies in the stomach.

Proper digestion is most likely to occur when we take timeto eat our meals in a relaxed atmosphere. However, the average worker sits down for lunch for only eleven minutes, and many for only five minutes, or eats a sandwich unconsciously while working.

Risk Factor 8. We don't chew our foods completely.

This interferes significantly with digestion. Foods that remain in excessively large pieces can't be broken down properly, even when enough digestive juices are available.

Risk Factor 9. We drink too many liquids with our meals.

This dilutes digestive juices and stomach acid, keeping them from fully digesting our foods.

Risk Factor 10. We combine too many of these risk factors.

If we regularly made just one of these mistakes, we might not have a problem. Most people, though, combine several of these risk factors, and soon they experience the straw that breaks the camel's back. Doctors call this reaching the allergic threshold.

All of these risk factors can cause your digestive system to dump large, unwieldy macromolecules of food into your bloodstream. When this happens, it generally triggers your immune response.

If your immune system is already impaired, your immune reaction to these macromolecules of food will be even worse. You'll get reactions to a wider variety of foods, and your symptoms will be more severe and more frequent. Many forces can impair immunity: poor nutrition, exposure to toxins, stress, and lack of sleep.

Therefore, to avoid food reactions, you should not only minimize your risk factors, but should also try to optimize your immune strength, with a healthy lifestyle, ingestion of specific nutrients, and avoidance of toxins. I'll soon tell you how to do this.

In addition, a number of non-food factors can make food reactions worse by contributing to the allergic threshold. The body doesn't care if an allergen is a food-borne allergen or an airborne allergen, such as pollen. To the body, an allergen is an allergen. Food reactions are worse in people who inhale airborne allergens, are exposed to toxic chemicals, or are under stress.

Therefore, you are not just what you eat.

Food reactions — and therefore fat — can be caused by many factors, and food is just the most obvious one.

I know that this is a new, strange concept for many people. But I have tested this concept clinically and have seen it work wonders.

Here's an example: a patient of mine worked in a paint shop and regularly inhaled airborne toxins. This man was bloated, puffy, and red-eyed most of the time, and reacted strongly to a number of foods. He also got sick a lot because the toxins he breathed were stressing his immune system. When he switched jobs and escaped the constant assault of airborne pollutants, his sensitivity to foods decreased dramatically. His progress on the False Fat Diet accelerated tremendously when he quit his job, and he soon lost almost all of his false fat and most of his true fat. Simultaneously, he stopped having frequent minor illnesses.

If any of these risk factors apply to you, you are vulnerable to food reactions.

You are not just what you eat.
Fat can be caused by many factors.
Food is just the most obvious one.

Now I'll tell you how food reactions develop within your body, after you engage in these risk factors. Once you understand how food reactions work, you'll be better able to stop them — forever.

Why you will lose false fat

Donna didn't look fat, at least not in the leggings and long sweater she was wearing as she entered my office. Her legs looked slender and fit, and her sweater hid the rest. But she felt fat.

`I've got a guy's type of weight problem,' she said as she sat down. She was animated and energetic, but obviously frustrated. 'Women are supposed to collect fat in their hips and thighs — aren't they? — but mine sticks right here.' She patted her stomach. When she was sitting, I could see that it bulged, even under the thick sweater. 'I hardly ever overeat,' she said, `but since I've hit 40, I get no forgiveness from my body. It's like my metabolism took early retirement. I take two bites and I can feel the fat cells around my waist start to expand. Literally. I pinch my love handles, and they're thicker before I even get up from the table.' She looked at me expectantly, as if I might not believe her. 'My last doctor,' she said with a sour look, 'told me there's no way that food could make me fat that fast. But I can feel it happening.' Again, she searched my face for reassurance. She had an upbeat personality, but she was almost ready to give up. She ate carefully, exercised hard, and still carried 20 extra pounds.

`It's not your imagination,' I said. 'That feeling of instant weight gain happens to a lot of people. But it's not fat you're gaining. It's fluid retention and bloating, and you're probably getting it from food reactions. A lot of the swelling and bloating from food reactions occurs directly in and around the gut.

That's why you feel it in your midsection right away.'

`If it's not fat,' she said, 'why doesn't it leave as fast as it comes? I look like this almost all the time.'

`Your biochemistry won't allow it to go away, because your body is trying to protect you. When you eat reactive foods, your body sees them as foreign substances, almost as poisons, and it goes all out to protect you. It can take two to three days to stop reacting to some foods.'

Tut it's not like I eat junk. I'm an old-time you-are-what you-eat type. I was eating granola before they even had a name for it.' She smiled, but I could see she felt cheated. For many years, she'd followed all the rules — but the rules had been wrong.

`People can become reactive to healthy foods,' I said, 'even granola, if you eat it all the time. Do you eat a lot of non-fat and artificially sweetened foods?'

`Now that my metabolism has slowed down, I've got to.'

`I hate to say it, but some of those "lite" foods may be doing you more harm than good. If you're reactive to a food, it can be virtually calorie-free and still make you gain weight. Even diet soda can cause bloating and swelling.' She looked surprised. Most people these days are so accustomed to counting calories and fat grams — the quantity of their food — that they forget about the importance of quality.

`I don't think you're eating too many calories,' I said. 'And I don't think your age is the real problem. Your metabolism is slowing down just 5 per cent every decade, and that's not enough to cause what you're experiencing. I think you've just developed some food reactions over a long period of time. When you resolve them, you'll lost your weight.'

Tut I was tested for allergies and they didn't find any.' `Did they explain that not all food reactions are allergies?' I asked.

`No.'

I wasn't surprised. Most doctors don't really understand food reactions. They usually have an all-or-nothing attitude; they think that you either have a classic food allergy, with hives and wheezing, or you have nothing at all.

I gave Donna a brief rundown on how food reactions work and how they cause bloating and swelling. I explained it out of respect for her. Some doctors think it's acceptable to tell patients what to do, without telling them why, but I object to that approach. If patients are willing to change their lives by taking my advice, they deserve to know exactly why these changes will help.

As I gave all the details to Donna, she listened attentively and took notes. Over the next few weeks, she eliminated her false fat foods — one of which was oats, a primary ingredient in most granola — and dropped about 15 pounds.

Now I'll give you the details on how food reactions get started. Then we'll look at how they cause bloating and swelling.

If you're going to make changes in your life, you deserve to know exactly what's going on.

I'm sure some of this information will hit home. Often, when I tell patients about food reactions, they say, 'That's me you're describing.'

Food allergy or food intolerance?

There are at least five reasons why some people are unable to tolerate certain foods, of which allergy is only one (see below). In true food allergy the body's immune system is directly involved, whereas in food intolerance other factors play a role. The manifestations of the reaction - such as sudden vomiting or diarrhoea - may be identical in both cases.

The most obvious example of food intolerance is simple toxicity. Contaminants - substances which get into food during the growth, harvesting, processing, packaging or storage of food - are occasionally harmful. In severe cases these incidental additives can make foods poisonous and anyone eating them will suffer ill effects.

Much less obvious are the adverse reactions of a few people who lack the enzymes necessary to digest certain foods. A common example is lactose intolerance. A significant number of people come into the world without the enzyme lactase, which is essential for the digestion of the milk sugar lactose. As a result, they invariably suffer from flatulence and diarrhoea when they drink cow's milk. The majority of the population obviously have the necessary enzyme and can drink milk without any ill effects.

A third - and very interesting - possible cause of intolerance is our psychological reactions to foods. It has been shown that if you are convinced, because of a past experience, that you have a bad reactionto a certain food, you will usually avoid it. But if you do eat it again the chances are it will affect you in the same way, sometimes eventhough it cannot be proved that you are in any way allergic to it. One survey of 580 adults found that two-thirds of them avoided one ormore foods because of their taste or texture or due to some past reaction.

Next come foods that produce reactions which seem very much like true allergic responses. For example, mature cheese may contain histamine or tyramine (which will cause reactions) while foods such as strawberries and shellfish may trigger off certain cells in the body which are directly involved in allergic reactions. These are not true allergic reactions because they do not involve the immune system and naturally occurring chemicals within the foods - not the foods themselves - are responsible for triggering off the reactions.

So much for food intolerance. What we are really referring to when we talk about 'food allergy' are those reactions which have a truly allergic basis and have to do with the body's immune (defence) system.

Potential problem foods

The following are some of the foods which most commonly cause reactions in sensitive individuals:

Foods rich in histamine: Cheese, chocolate, avocados, bananas, tomatoes, sauerkraut, broad beans, canned figs, soy sauce, meat and yeast extracts, smoked or pickled fish, liver, alcoholic beverages (except whisky, gin and vodka).

Foods rich in tyramine: French cheeses such as Camembert, Brie, Gruyere and Roquefort; Cheddar cheese, brewer's yeast, herrings, chianti.

The symptoms of food allergy

If you have ever seen a victim of true food allergy after he or she has eaten an offending food, you will know that the reactions can be alarming! The lips swell up almost instantly and an itchy, raised red rash develops along with welts around the mouth. Sometimes the mouth becomes intensely itchy and the uvula (the small tongue at the back of the throat) may become swollen. The foods which most often cause this kind of reaction are eggs, nuts, shellfish, citru fruits and berries. Reactions in the lower part of the digestive tract take a little longer to develop but nausea and vomiting - often accompanied by sudden severe diarrhoea (sometimes with blood in the stools) - may occur within 30 minutes of eating seafood or eggs. This reaction may be followed by flushing, headaches, itching and palpitations which usually disappear after 2-4 hours. All in all, it can be a very unpleasant business!

Highly allergic people should carry an adrenaline inhaler with them at all times, but especially when eating out. If they feel an allergic reaction starting up, they should immediately take in between 3 and 6 puffs of the inhaler. This will prevent any tightness and swelling occurring in the throat. Immediately thereafter a rapidly acting antihistamine (such as Phenergan) 25mg tablet should be swallowed. In virtually all cases, this on-the-spot treatment will enable the affected person to reach medical attention in good time.

Foods may produce allergic reactions in other organs as well. For example, some people can have asthma attacks which may be just as severe as reactions caused by inhaling allergens such as dust or pollens. Allergy to foods may also worsen an existing allergic rash (urticaria) in other parts of the body. In one hospital study in Europe330 patients with recurrent urticaria (also known as hives or nettle rash) were asked what made their condition worse. Foods were said to worsen their skin rash in 30% of cases and 18% thought that drinks did the same. Fruits: vegetables, nuts and fish were the worst offenders.

The best way of looking at this aspect of food allergy is to divide the symptoms that occur into two groups - those that affect the digestive tract (by far the most common) and those that affect other parts of the body. It is important to stress that these symptoms are much more common in young infants and toddlers under 2 years of age than in older children and adults. In fact, there are few examples of food allergy persisting from infancy or early childhood into adult life and the vast majority of babies who are allergic to some foods outgrow their early sensitivity as their bowel matures.

Digestive symptoms

The immediate reactions which occur on contact with an allergenicfood have been discussed above, as have the other common reactions such as vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea and abdominal pain.

In studies on babies in London, doctors were struck by the fact that there seemed to be a link between putting the infants onto artificial feeds and the onset of colic and diarrhoea. It appeared to be mainly the large bowel that was affected and if the babies were taken off these feeds, their colitis (inflammation of the bowel) cleared rapidly. It was found that the major cause of the problem was cow's milk, though some of the babies had reactions to soya and beef proteins. To find out what was happening, a series of studies were done, using a tube with several well-positioned reflecting optics which allowed the inside of the large bowel to be seen clearly. What this showed was that there was noticeable inflammation of the wall of the colon, which disappeared when the offending food was withdrawn.

Food intolerance appears to be closely linked with the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or 'spastic colon' which occurs in adults. In this uncomfortable condition, abdominal pain is accompanied by diarrhoea or constipation. In one research project 21 sufferers from IBS were put onto what is known as an 'elimination diet', consisting only of meat, fruit and water. Fourteen of them found that their symptoms cleared and wheat was identified as the most common cause of symptoms. Maize and dairy products were next on the list.

Reactions to food chemicals

In addition to chemicals which occur naturally in foods (for example, caffeine in coffee), there are numerous others which may be incorporated - either directly or indirectly - into food during the growing, storage or processing stages. These chemicals include flavouring, colourants and preservatives. The first two are the most common - because of their very wide distribution in foods, beverages and pharmaceutical products, practically everyone has some daily contact with one or more flavouring and colourant. However, the consumer is often surprised to learn that an everday food product contains either a synthetic colour or flavour or both.

In many cases the foods are those especially designed for children, for example sweets and various breakfast foods. Tartrazine is the most common colouring agent used and is found in a wide range of foods, beverages and medicines. The adverse responses to it are similar to those caused by aspirin and can include very severe reactions. Most commonly, it causes urticaria, asthma, nasal discharge and itching. The flavour-enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) is usually found in prepared meats, meat extracts and in Chinese food. People who are sensitive to MSG may have a reaction known as the `Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' after eating foods containing the offending compound. Sweating, a feeling of weakness and a tight feeling in the chest are the symptoms.

All this means that people who are sensitive to certain chemicals should be extra careful about reading all food labels carefully and should avoid those foods and drinks which contain possible problem causers. However, it is important to emphasise that naturally occurring chemical substances - such as caffeine in tea, coffee and cola drinks and theobromine in chocolate - may also have adverse effects such as insomnia, restlessness, abdominal pain and nausea in sensitive people. No additives are responsible for these reactions.