food allergies or resistance

brianthebard

How real is this idea of food allergies or building a resistance to certain foods over time? Are there some foods that this is more likely to happen with and some where it won't (haven't done a lot of reading on this topic but I've never heard of a steak allergy for instance). Is there any benefit in the idea of 'cycling' for want of a better word, different macro sources or different products? Any other info on this topic would be appreciated. B.

El_Dangeroso

There is indeed a steak allergy (bovine serum albumin allergy - though it's very very rare), if there is a food protein, chances are there is someone who can be allergic to it.

The origins of allergies isn't really well defined (theories abound -lack of vitamin D, leaky gut etc. but no complete explanations), but no one really thinks that you can create a true allergic reaction simply by consuming a food every day, if that was the case, most Chinese people would be allergic to rice.

It all comes down to the immune system incorrectly seeing a certain protein as a foreign invader that triggers an disproportionate immune reaction.

The only benefit to 'cycling' any foods is to vary the toxin load on your liver and increasing nutrient variety which is probably a good thing all on its own. Cycling macronutrients is a good idea when trying to put on muscle and lose fat, replenishing glycogen stores every once in a while.

--Kaiser--

There was a study where they fed children who had peanut allergy increasing proportions of peanuts to induce tolerance;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19226304

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041116215801.htm

Both my in-laws who happen to be coeliac get very sick from even the a small amount of wheat gluten, whereas before they changed diet they could eat moderate amounts without feeling ill.

Red Cortina

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Both my in-laws who happen to be coeliac get very sick from even the a small amount of wheat gluten, whereas before they changed diet they could eat moderate amounts without feeling ill.

That is really interesting - does anyone know why that is?