Food allergies and the immune system

[NHE]

Here's an interesting article on food allergies and the immune system from American Scientist.

Why We Develop Food Allergies
Coached by breast milk and good bacteria, the immune system strives to learn the difference between food and pathogens before the first morsel crosses our lips

NHE

[ljm]

Actually, I think this should go under "general" rather than diet.
NICK could you possibly comment on this?? It seems to support the Ashton Embry theory (as I understood it) re leaky gut/food antigen. And, err, also seemed to support LYON theory that deliberate introduction of bacteria/parasite might be beneficial.

[jimmylegs]

right now i'm introducing my immune system to 90 billion good bacteria per day, hope it works!

[Fern]

Well, it was interesting coming across this post, as i just discovered, then joined, this forum today.

Not quite 3 months ago i met someone online and we've been dating ever since. He happens to be a neurologist with a big MS practice. (What are the odds, right?)

Just this past weekend i showed him the Ashton Embry article and my ELIZA test results from about 10 years ago. Based on those results, i eliminated almonds, most soy, most egg from my diet.

I happen to love eggs, so i ran all this by my new BF. He questioned the accuracy of the ELIZA/RAST tests. And also said he doubted that so called hidden food allergies could penetrate the BBB, particularly if no outwards signs of allergy existed.

I've started eating eggs again this weekend with a spinach/hard-boiled egg salad and enjoyed it very much.

What do you think??

[Nick]

Hi Fern

I feel your concerns in this post and the other (regarding sacrifice) are well considered.
There are a few aspects I would like to address.

Your boyfriend

I think there are well founded processes identified that would allow allergies access to the brain. Obviously MS is a condition in which the immune system has access to brain tissue so the permeability is demonstrated by inference using this rationale.

Although I don’t have a link to the specific research, there is well documented occasions of people with celiac disease presenting with MRI detected lesions on the brain. CD is well identified as a physiological instance of hypersensitivity to gluten so one can infer that autoimmune diseases are a gradational spectrum at times and are not necessarily a unimodal condition of only one self tissue being assailed within one individual.

These studies demonstrate the relevance of dietary proteins in the MS (and type 1 diabetes) disease process and again, blended nature of autoimmunity.


In Children with Autoimmune Disease, Response Starts Early

Newswise - Children with neurological autoimmune diseases develop immune reactions to other targets in their bodies and in food early in their disease, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., April 1 - 8, 2006.

T cells are the body's regulators of the immune response. Increased T cell proliferation is a characteristic of autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks body tissues.
However, it wasn't known whether this increased proliferation occurred early, or as a result of chronic autoimmunity, said lead researcher Brenda Banwell, MD, from the Department of Pediatric Neurology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada.

The researchers studied 166 children: 63 with an autoimmune demyelinating syndrome (either multiple sclerosis or an isolated event of central nervous system autoimmunity), 43 with type I diabetes (also an autoimmune disease), 31 with a non-autoimmune neurological condition, and 30 healthy controls. They examined blood samples for T cell proliferation in response to exposure to a variety of antigens (targets), including myelin protein from nerve cells, proteins in the pancreas, and proteins in milk.

As expected, more children with central nervous system autoimmunity had T cell proliferation after exposure to myelin than control children (50 percent versus 10 percent). About a quarter of these children also showed a response to proinsulin, a T-cell target in type I diabetes. Over sixty percent also responded to a protein in milk. Ninety percent of the children with type I diabetes responded to pancreatic antigens as expected, but almost as many (79 percent) responded to myelin, and 90 percent responded to milk protein.

Even at the onset of their disease, children with autoimmune diseases harbor T cells that will react against proteins within their tissues, Banwell said. The responses seen against milk proteins raise the possibility that substances in food may be associated with autoimmunity.
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The above article demonstrates that autoimmunity can begin early in life. It stands to reason that depending on the balance of causal elements and protective factors, symptoms arise either early or later in life but the disease progress begins early. This can be related to the fine article which formed the basis of this thread.

This study by Winer et al in 2001 that found striking similarities between IDDM and MS. In essence, the two diseases are, in a test tube, virtually identical. It’s only their final expression of what self tissue is attacked which differs.

It compliments the research by Guggenmos et al by showing mimicry between self tissue and dietary proteins. It strongly implicates dairy as a causal element in MS and very strongly implicates dairy as a causal element in type 1 diabetes.

Your diet restrictions

Its plausible that you benign progression may well convince you that your dietary sacrifices are not worthwhile. While this might be the case at this stage in your life remember that MS is progressive as the neurological damage accumulates. Every person with MS has to consider if their therapy’s sacrifice is worth the prevention of further neurological damage. From personal experience prevention would have been much preferred to suffering the ravages of this disease.

I believe your benign status allows you these luxuries of contemplation but maybe you should focus more on the protective as aspects such as ample vitamin D and omega three fatty acids. Whether to diet or not might be a moot point for you anyway.

From what little I know of your disease pattern you appear ideally suited to
be able to effectively suppress the instigator side of the MS equation with ample immunosuppression.

Best of luck and keep up your good health

Cheers
Nick

[Fern]

Thanks for your thoughts, Nick. I may run them by the BF.

Did i mention i've had MS for about 22 years now?

Certainly i am not abandoning all sense of caution when it comes to the MS. I am taking 1,000 mg Vt. D daily as well as fish oil, turmeric, etc.

I didn't spell out in the last post that my first ELIZA test showed multiple, numerous allergies, eggs being the worst, while that 2nd RAST test showed no allergies whatsoever, thus introducing a degree of skepticism as to the true value of these tests.

[Nick]

Hey Fern

Did i mention i've had MS for about 22 years now?

This is an interesting facet of MS.Does one "get" Ms at the time of dx, apparent symptoms or when the disease process begins, I think the latter because it takes a lot of disease activity to occur before symptoms become apparent.

Certainly i am not abandoning all sense of caution when it comes to the MS. I am taking 1,000 mg Vt. D daily as well as fish oil, turmeric, etc.

Good on ya. Rather than recommending a certain daily intake I would suggest you have a serum concentration at or above levels considered to have a maximum immunoregulatory effect. The latest estimateis a serum concetration of 25 hydroxyvitamin D >= 100 nmol/L.

Of course this can be obtained either through supplements and or UVR exposure which equates to a total of 4,000 IU/d.

I didn't spell out in the last post that my first ELIZA test showed multiple, numerous allergies, eggs being the worst, while that 2nd RAST test showed no allergies whatsoever, thus introducing a degree of skepticism as to the true value of these tests.

I'm not versed on RAST testing but I would hesitate comparing results determined from two different procedures.

Cheers
Nick

[Fern]

Yeah, i took great pains to tell my internist' RPN that i wanted the ELIZA test the 2nd time as well, but when i got to the hospital, the results page said "RAST" on it. The nurse said they were one and the same.