Food Allergies and Sensitivities
Food allergies or sensitivities can be a contributing factor in diabetes, making it more difficult to manage blood sugar levels. Try to identify any food allergies or sensitivities in order to be able to avoid the culprit items. The most common are allergies and sensitivities to dairy, gluten (wheat), corn, soy, and citrus foods.
Elimination Diet
One way to detect particular food sensitivities is to avoid a suspected food for 4 days. Following this, eat a moderate amount of the food on an empty stomach. Nothing else should be eaten with this testing. Take the pulse before and after eating the suspected food. If it rises more than a few beats per minute or if there is any adverse reaction, then eliminate the food from your diet. Some reactions to look for include rashes, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, joint pain, and hoarseness. This test should not be done with any foods that you avoid already due to allergy.
Scientific tests are now available from medical professionals for delayed-sensitivity type allergies to foods. These types of allergies, mediated by IgG immunoglobulins, are ‘delayed’ in the sense that eating the food may produce a wide range of symptoms up to 4 days after consuming the food. This is a different type of allergy than the IgE (immediate hypersensitivity reaction), which is tested for in a conventional skin prick test at the allergists office. Immediate hypersensitivity reactions occur quickly and can lead to intense reactions, such as anaphylaxis. Delayed type sensitivities are more insidious in their manifestations, but have been shown to contribute to many types of chronic disease.
Clinical Studies: Sensitivity to Cow’s Milk in Diabetes and MS
Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children linked two autoimmune diseases, diabetes and multiple sclerosis, to cow’s milk in a 2001 study. High levels of consumption of cow’s milk may have a role in the development of both these diseases. In multiple sclerosis, cells of the body’s immune system attack the protective myelin covering of the central nervous system, causing many and varied neurological symptoms. In Type I diabetes, immune system cells target the pancreas so that it can no longer produce insulin, leading to the symptoms of diabetes.
In both groups, there was a high degree of similarity in autoimmunity. The autoimmunity was not specific to the organ system affected by the disease. In the study, T cells from people with diabetes attacked central nervous system myelin proteins. At the same time, T cells from people with MS attacked proteins in the pancreas. In addition, the researchers also found signs of abnormal immunity to cows’ milk in the people with MS in the study. Earlier studies reported relationships between these conditions, such as similar ethnic and geographic distributions and similar genetic risk factors.
Since delayed type sensitivity testing reveals that dairy products are a very common allergen, testing and possible avoidance makes sense for all diabetics and MS sufferers.
