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Nutritionhelp has launched its online personal symptom analysis system to determine your nutritional needs.
Nutritionhelp and nutritionhelp.com are trading names of 8 Madeira Avenue, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 3EB, UK.
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ALLERGY Welcome to www.nutritionhelp.com ! Did you know that allergy can often be helped by Nutritional Therapy? In my clinical practice, I have seen it happen time and time again - and now you can receive tailor-made advice online from www.nutritionhelp.com! My name is Erica White. I’m Nutritional Director of Nutritionhelp, and also a Fellow of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition and an Honorary Fellow of the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy. I have now retired from clinical practice, but we have set up an online Questionnaire and Report system which can give you all the advice you need, with an optional facility to have contact with one of our associate team of qualified Nutritionists. I’m going to answer a few questions about allergy which I hope might be helpful to you. What exactly is an allergy? There’s no quick answer to that. Fortunately, true allergy is a fairly rare occurrence, giving rise to alarming symptoms like anaphylactic shock which need immediate medical attention. However, very many people suffer from a hypersensitivity reaction, indicating a reaction by the immune system to a food or an environmental factor, or they show signs of an intolerance to certain foods, indicating a reaction by the digestive system. Both hypersensitivities and intolerances are often referred to as ‘allergy’, simply as a sort of ‘shorthand’ term. Q. What sort of environmental factors can cause problems? Well, everybody knows that in very many people different types of pollen can give rise to hay-fever and all its associated unpleasant symptoms. A problem for some people is animal fur. People can even react to mould spores in the air, so that they feel particularly ill when there are a lot of mouldy leaves on the ground at the start of winter, or they feel ill when they inhale mould spores from the damp soil of their indoor plants – but unfortunately they don’t realise what’s making them feel so ill. Mould is a particular problem for people who live in old damp houses. But also many people react to things like perfume, or chemical smells from paint or household products, or to petrol fumes. Long before I studied to become a Nutritionist, I personally had an extremely unpleasant reaction to the smell of North Sea gas when it was first piped into our neighbourhood and into our house – but it took a year of being virtually bed-bound before we discovered what was making me so ill. Q. What sort of symptoms can be caused by environmental sensitivities? You can feel extremely fatigued, or woolly-headed, or suffer from depression or anxiety or panic attacks. You can also have muscle aches and weakness, or headaches or sinusitis or asthma or a rash. There is a whole range of possible symptoms which very often are not recognised as being a hypersensitivity or ‘allergic’ reaction. Q. How does this sort of reaction happen? The allergen – whatever it might be – can attack the immune system by entering the body through the mucous membranes which line the respiratory tract. A strong immune system will be able to fight off the attack, but if the immune system has been weakened by having a poor nutritional status through bad eating habits, or if it has been over-loaded and broken down, or if the body is lacking in certain enzymes which are dependent on good nutrition, it’s all too easy for an ‘allergic’ reaction to occur. Q. How can the immune system become weakened or broken down? As I’ve said, a poor nutritional status is a major factor – and this unfortunately is all too common in this day and age of junk food. Stress is another major factor, and again it’s all too common. In my experience, one of the major contributors is an overgrowth of yeast in the body, a condition known as Candidiasis, or an overgrowth of Candida albicans. Candida toxins put such a load on the immune system that it goes out of control and reacts wildly by over-producing antibodies to all sorts of things that were never a problem before. Q. What can be done to improve matters? In the first instance it helps if you can possibly identify the culprit allergen and remove it from your environment – like finding kind homes for your house plants, or even your cat! The next all-important step is to improve your nutritional status, preferably with a tailor-made nutritional programme. And if Candida is a problem, it’s vital that you follow a good anti-candida regime. While you are dealing with the root cause, there are various supplements that can help to minimise the reaction – and quite often they work more effectively than any type of pharmaceutical antihistamine. Q. Can you say something briefly about food sensitivities and intolerances? Two types of reaction are possible. One is when the immune system reacts to a particle of food which has been able to enter the bloodstream before it has been fully digested. That is called a sensitivity reaction. The other is a digestive reaction, and that is called a food intolerance. It can show itself as abdominal pain or bloating or other problems of the digestive tract including either constipation or diarrhoea. Gluten is a fairly common cause of intolerance, and gluten occurs in wheat, oats, rye and barley. A sensitivity reaction can be similar to those caused by environmental factors because it’s the immune system which is reacting. Skin rashes like hives or eczema are common, or you can get palpitations, or black rings under your eyes, or a flushed face, or sinusitis or asthma. Finding the culprit food can be tricky, but in this situation the Nutritionhelp online report advises a simple pulse test because it’s pretty fool-proof and has the advantage that you do it yourself and it’s free! Q. How do particles of food get into the bloodstream? There’s a condition known as Leaky Gut Syndrome which allows this to happen. A leaky gut can be caused by many factors, including a low level of antibodies which protect the lining of the gut wall, or certain medications, or an overgrowth of the common yeast Candida albicans, which burrows into the gut wall, making it leaky. In this situation, it’s essential to follow an anti-candida regime before you can hope to take steps to heal your leaky gut and overcome the food sensitivities. Otherwise it’s a bit like applying a filler to woodworm holes while the worms are still alive and burrowing! It needs to be taken a step at a time – but it can all be sorted out with Nutritional Therapy. Q. What would you say to someone who either knows or suspects that they react to something? If you haven’t considered it before, you may well find that Nutritional Therapy could be very helpful – not only in tracing the culprit foods or substances but also in helping your body to overcome your reactions to them. Of course, we can make no claims for you as an individual, but we can say that many people have seen significant improvement. If you have an online report from www.nutritionhelp.com, it will tell you about various optional supplements which can help to relieve your symptoms while you are tackling the root cause. Maybe you would like to register for an online report. A detailed Questionnaire enables you to be provided with personalised advice based on my clinical experience over nearly twenty years. Register now for an online questionnaire from www.nutritionhelp.com. For just £47 you will receive an extremely detailed report giving tailor-made nutritional advice to help you on your road to recovery. Read how the system works on www.nutritionhelp.com/quest_more.php. I wish you well! Erica White, Dip.ION, FBANT
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