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Food, Fads, and Fooey
I’m up to my eyeballs in work, life, and a strong craving for significant time spent outdoors in the amazing late summer weather with my hiking boots and camera. That last part isn’t happening, but I can dream. I am spending some of my off moments in research, as always. I want to do up a good article on pesticides in food (spoiler alert: not a big health concern, no matter what the media tells you), but that will take more time than I currently have to brain up on it.
So here, in no particular order, are a few of the links open in my browser tabs, for you to chase down if you’re interested.
Probiotics may actually be hurtful, not helpful, following an antibiotic course. Small study, but well executed.
The second paper examined the effects of probiotics on mice and humans that were given antibiotics first. Would the probiotics repopulate the intestinal flora? In this study, 21 participants, none of whom was currently taking probiotics, were given a broad spectrum antibiotic for one week. were divided into three groups. One group got a placebo (“watch and wait.”) The second got four weeks of the same 11 probiotics used in the first study. The third group received Autologous Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (aFMT), which is also called a fecal transplant. Each group was given two endoscopies and two colonoscopies. The results were unexpected:
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In the group that received probiotics, the return to normal intestinal flora was significantly delayed – by months – compared to the group that did not take probiotics. The probiotics inhibited the return to the normal biome.
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The aFMT recipients’ had a normal biome within a few days.
Part of my personal quest to figure out how to control my psoriasis and excema (which are both flaring badly and have left me with a splotchy face and constant itching recently), I’ve been looking into changing diet to possibly assist with this, thinking a food allergy might be at the bottom of it. Sadly for the ease of that treatment, science doesn’t seem to support it. I’ll keep looking. But there are some interesting articles on the woo surrounding ‘food as medicine’ which we see a LOT in fad diets. There’s a reason I avoid fad diets or anything that looks like them like the plague. They can actually be harmful.
naturopaths often make dietary recommendations based on applied kinesiology tests, unvalidated blood tests, or far-fetched medical explanations. A commonly prescribed, but unproven, naturopathic diet theory is the elimination of nightshades to reduce the symptoms of inflammatory diseases, especially arthritis. One such bogus test I often used in practice was an IgG food allergy test. As a first step in treatment for many conditions, such as asthma, infertility, or migraines, I would order an IgG food allergy panel and then discuss the results with patients in the context of an elimination diet treatment plan. Sometimes I would also recommend supplements such as probiotics and l-glutamine to “heal the gut.”
And for more on that particular ‘disgnostic test’ look at this:
Beyond the IgE mediated reactions, there are a number of possible reactions to food, which may be termed “food intolerances”. Not immune-system based, they’re more common than allergies. They include conditions like lactose intolerance, gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), enzyme deficiencies, metabolic conditions, infections and other processes. It’s a catch-all term by definition.
So where does immunoglobulin G (IgG) come in? IgG molecules mediate interactions of cells with different cellular and humoral mechanisms. IgG antibodies signify exposure to products—not allergy. IgG may actually be a marker for food tolerance, not intolerance.
Look, fad diets have killed people. Following a non-scientific based approach to eating doesn’t make any sense to me. it’s one thing to have an actual allergy to a food. It is quite another to go around claiming you do, when you don’t, and then someone with a real allergy faces skepticism and eye-rolls in a restaurant.
and I realize this is rather disjointed, sorry. No time! I need more time…
Comments
11 responses to “Food, Fads, and Fooey”
i just treat my food allergies like lactose intolerance, even tho its not.
I twitch and feel like hell when I get pesticides in me. Doesn’t take much. Not a big deal for you, maybe, but look at the health of society. It’s nothing like when I was a kid.
Do you work with pesticides? Applying them? Because you’re not getting them in your food.
One caveat to that: if he’s growing his own food, and not washing it before preparing it. (Well, and also using pesticides on them.)
(And I’ve started being much more careful when applying various -icides around my house, lawn and garden. ‘Cause, yeah, they are not generally good for your body if you breathe them in and such. No matter what sort they are.)
No, that’s my point – residual pesticides are not at a level the media makes them out to be. Which I should definitely write up.
well, at least you know what your next writeup is.
I saw the one on probiotics. My first question was, “Do they mean medicinal probiotics? Or did they include natural probiotics, like sauerkraut and yogurt?”
And my doctor didn’t prescribe probiotics for any old antibiotic, but when they gave me the really strong stuff. I had a bad sinus infection, and they gave me some of the strongest antibiotics for it. That was the only time I’ve ever been told to take probiotics, medicinally. (It was well after that that I started making my own sauerkraut and salsa and such, and unrelated to antibiotics use.)
“food intolerances”
Ah, yes, a much better way to talk about food affecting you negatively.
As to “fads”…. I detest them. It could be considered a fad that I do the home fermenting. But it *is* a time-tested method of preparing food – from the Koreans to the Mongols to the Bavarians. And it is good for you – and yummy. (I’ve also made homemade hard cider with fermenting. That’s yummy too.) I’ll keep up the fermenting because it’s a good way to make foods that will keep, and because some measure of natural “probiotics” makes my intestines work better (by the standard of the … end product).
I also take raw local honey to help my allergies. There’s some science behind that. And a teaspoon of honey isn’t something that could be bad for me.
Are they fads? I don’t think so – because I’m not doing it because everyone else is. If you think so, feel free to tell me so. *shrug*
But I’ve never taken an “herbal supplement” or gone on a named diet or put weird things in my food because I’ll suddenly live forever or be thin and beautiful (ha!) or be smarter or…….
Very interesting study. I’d like to see one on whether certain probiotics would be beneficial when you’re sick with something like clostridium difficile. I had it several years ago after being treated with clindamycin for oral surgery. My GI specialist gave me the probiotic Saccharomyces Boulardii to take along with vancomycin (one of the few antibiotics that can sometimes kill c diff). I notice this study didn’t use this particular probiotic & it doesn’t say if the people were being given antibiotics as a treatment for something & if so, what they had. I think this area needs more study, but there is certainly a lot of probiotic hype going on now.
badgerwx
Fecal transplants are the way to go following a bout with C. diff.
Yep, fad diets are just that… Somebody getting rich until the first death, then they are nowhere to be found, and all their ‘data’ is missing… Funny how that happens!
” how to control my psoriasis and excema (which are both flaring badly and have left me with a splotchy face and constant itching recently)”
Do I have to rant about this AGAIN? Get your effin’ thyroid checked. Full workup. Including Hashimoto’s antibodies (common cause of psoriasis). If that’s normal, check parathyroid status. Should always be FIRST line of inquiry for these chronic conditions, not last resort.
Meanwhile, quick and dirty treatment: use P120 grit sandpaper (drywall sandpaper if you can find it) on the affected area to get rid of the surplus dead skin (don’t go overboard, just clean it up to smooth; usually when you’re at the right point, it stops itching). Dampen, then apply Vaseline (brand matters, generic is not the same). Rinse and repeat as required. Works better’n anything else, both for reducing itch and making it approach an appearance of normal skin. (If you catch a patch while it’s still forming, can even prevent it from going fullblown.)
Dr.Eades found he could instantly cure most of his GERD patients simply by reducing fibre in the diet. (If you “need” fibre to function… we’re back to lookin’ at thyroid.)
“Probiotics” in pet food have been found to sometimes cause intractable diarrhea.