Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
I'm sorry that I'll post again about intolerance (I feel like I'm always coming up with more things to eliminate from diet
LOL ), but, remember, not everyone is THAT sensitive, and it probably goes down to severe gut damage plus a genetic tendency.
Anyways, I left avocados for a few days, then ate again and I noticed some reactions such as itching and constipation. I also ate radish yesterday and woke up today with a strong headache and discomfort in eyes and ears. So I looked up for radish intolerance and found that it is very high in a common allergy trigger that is (as usual) unknown: Salicylate
There's quite a lot of information out there in the web because it's so common so just doing a search in Google brings up lots of information. Anyway, again from
Paleo Mom:
What are salicylates? Salicylates are the salts and esters of salicylic acid, an organic acid that is a key ingredient in aspirin and other pain medications, is frequently found in cosmetics and beauty products, and is also naturally occurring in varying concentrations in plants. In plants, salicylates act as a natural immune hormone and preservative, protecting the plants against diseases, insects, fungi, and bacterial infection. Why does it always come down to plants’ natural protective mechanisms!?
Salicylic acid is toxic to everyone in high doses. In the case of salicylate sensitivity/intolerance, much smaller doses produce symptoms of toxicity. Salicylate sensitivity/intolerance was initially described in terms of adverse drug reactions; and to date, most of the studies regarding salicylate sensitivity are performed in the context of drugs and medications that contain salicylates and/or salicylic acid. Although the research into this intolerance is still limited, the definition has expanded to a more inclusive definition including sensitivity to foods and to cleaning and beauty products that contain high levels of salicylates1,2. The typical reactions are gastrointestinal and/or asthma-related and/or what is called pseudoanaphylaxis (the symptoms of anaphylaxis through a non-IgE antibody mediated pathway). Symptoms of salicylate sensitivity include:
- Itchy skin, hives or rashes
- Stomach pain, nausea and/or diarrhea
- Asthma and other breathing difficulties, such as persistent cough
- Headaches
- Swelling of hands, feet, eyelids, face and/or lips (angioedema)
- Changes in skin color
- Fatigue
- Sore, itchy, puffy or burning eyes
- Nasal Congestion or sinusitis
- Memory loss and poor concentration (linked to ADHD)
- Ringing in the ears
- Depression and anxiety
Salicylate Intolerance may be a key player in many gastrointestinal disorders, such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Colitis and Crohn’s Disease 3,4,5,6. It is also deeply implicated in asthma (the reason why aspirin and other NSAIDs are not recommended for asthmatics) 4,6,7 and may be linked to Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder 4. There also seems to be an important link to inflammation since supplementation with high doses of omega-3 fatty acids (in the form of fish oil) reduces symptoms dramatically 8.
There is no diagnostic test for salicylate sensitivity. The only method to determine whether or not you are intolerant to salicylates is to dramatically reduce your exposure from both your diet and your environment and see if you improve. If you do, then the typical recommendation is to consume salicylates and see if your symptoms return.
She says the environmental factors, such as beauty and self-hygiene products are more important than food, and she doesn't necessarily recommends eliminating foods high in Salycilate; however, many other people with sensitivity report diminished symptoms when avoiding those foods, and reactions to them as well.
The interesting things it that it includes 3 super healthy foods that I noticed that can be problematic for some: sauerkraut, coconut products and avocado.
Another interesting thing is that the site
Salicylate Sensitivity, for example, says:
A Word about Histamine and Amine Intolerance
People who are salicylate intolerant are also likely to develop an Amine Sensitivity or Histamine Intolerance. Histamine and the similar amine substances occur naturally in a variety of foods. They especially develop from the breakdown of protein and fermentation that occurs during food processing. Therefore, fermented products such as alcohol and some cheeses are especially high in amines. Also, meats that have been cooked too long or are not fresh can be very high in amines. Symptoms of Histamine or Amine Sensitivity include (but are not limited to) flushing, sweating, increased heart rate and palpitations, fall in blood pressure, fainting, asthma, tissue swelling, headaches, migraines, itching, rashes, hives, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and tingling/itching/burning in the mouth. Amines have the ability to affect the width of blood vessels therefore causing a variety of circulation problems. As you can see some of the symptoms of amine intolerance are similar to salicylate intolerance. In fact around 70% of foods that are high in salicylate are also high in amines.
There is plenty of information about histamine reaction on the forum, and, since it is an inflammatory reaction (am i right?), it might mean that, again, salicylate intolerance may be due to a tendency to inflammation, i.e. autoimmunity. (I might be completely wrong here, so correct me if my reasoning about the issue is faulty ;) )
If this is the case, I guess that after sticking for some time to an autoimmune protocol, avoiding salicylate as well (those who have reactions to it), taking probiotics such as
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, and maybe some natural antihistamines such as
Boswellia and
Comfrey, can help... and then, after some time, one can probably be more tolerant to some of those foods, I suppose.
Another interesting piece of information I found (and I'm sorry again if it was already mentioned here), is that N-Acetyl-Cysteine can block intestinal DAO, which is an enzyme that interacts with histamine and reducing it increases the histamine concentrations. In this
very interesting article about histamine intolerance:
Whilst some foods do not naturally contain histamine, they are able to function as histamine liberators, whereby they encourage the release of stored histamine from the various cells around the body, e.g. citrus fruits. Various medications may also do the same.
Histamine is not the only bioactive substance that can lead to histamine intolerance. Other compounds of the same class (biogenic amines) are able to interact with the enzymes responsible for metabolising histamine (particularly in the gut), further reducing the concentration of enzymes available to interact with histamine and effectively increasing the histamine concentrations.
Therefore, increased histamine concentrations may be achieved via food by any combination of the following;
- histamine in food,
- histamine liberators in food,
- DAO blockers in food,
- DAO competitors in food.
So... I was wondering if I should also leave the NAC supplement I'm taking... :/
fwiw...
, and I can't edit it for some reason, so I'll leave the links here:
I can handle just a little bit of banana! Thank god I got no problem with other fruits like mango (which I love although it has a high level of sugar and can't eat that much) and any berries
