Allergies

Back in the 1980s we had endless spats with the reactionary dinosaurs in the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. They couldn’t grasp that “food allergy” could cause all kinds of complex symptoms and reactions, not least in the intestines. It’s just so OBVIOUS it makes you cringe at this ignorance (to the patients’ disadvantage, of course). There were no antibodies, they said, therefore the whole concept was an illusion or fraud. People could not react to food in this way. The whole idea was called “Mumby-Jumbo” in my home city. Actually, I’m quite proud of that! Now, some 30 years later, they have FINALLY woken up to the fact that this happens. Actually, it happens a LOT and they haven’t got that far yet. But at least they have changed their tune. I just saw a study published that’s about what they call food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). I think food allergy or food intolerance is far simpler! A case was presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2012 Annual Scientific Meeting. Progress! FPIES and its triggers (most commonly cow’s milk, rice, and soy) can be difficult to diagnose, lead researcher Tara Federly, MD, a fellow at the Children’s Mercy Hospital and the University of Missouri in Kansas City, told Medscape Medical News. FPIES is not mediated by immunoglobulin (Ig)E, “so it’s not the immediate hypersensitivity reaction that you see with peanut or milk or other allergy,” Dr. Federly explained. “The exact mechanism is not known, but it’s basically an inflammation of the GI tract that is triggered by certain foods. The interesting thing is that it happens hours after ingestion, instead of being a more immediate IgE-mediated reaction,” she said. Well, we told them that; but they wouldn’t listen! It was antibodies or nothing; no antibodies: patients was deluded and sent to a psychiatrist.

Back in the 1980s we had endless spats with the reactionary dinosaurs in the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. They couldn’t grasp that “food allergy” could cause all kinds of complex symptoms and reactions, not least in the intestines. It’s just so OBVIOUS it makes you cringe at this ignorance (to the patients’ disadvantage, of course). There were no antibodies, they said, therefore the whole concept was an illusion or fraud. People could not react to food in this way. The whole idea was called “Mumby-Jumbo” in my home city. Actually, I’m quite proud of that! Now, some 30 years later, they have FINALLY woken up to the fact that this happens. Actually, it happens a LOT and they haven’t got that far yet. But at least they have changed their tune. I just saw a study published that’s about what they call food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). I think food allergy or food intolerance is far simpler! A case was presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2012 Annual Scientific Meeting. Progress! FPIES and its triggers (most commonly cow’s milk, rice, and soy) can be difficult to diagnose, lead researcher Tara Federly, MD, a fellow at the Children’s Mercy Hospital and the University of Missouri in Kansas City, told Medscape Medical News. FPIES is not mediated by immunoglobulin (Ig)E, “so it’s not the immediate hypersensitivity reaction that you see with peanut or milk or other allergy,” Dr. Federly explained. “The exact mechanism is not known, but it’s basically an inflammation of the GI tract that is triggered by certain foods. The interesting thing is that it happens hours after ingestion, instead of being a more immediate IgE-mediated reaction,” she said. Well, we told them that; but they wouldn’t listen! It was antibodies or nothing; no antibodies: patients was deluded and sent to a psychiatrist.

It’s rather amusing, to position this story right after the previous one. But gene engineers have come up with a tomato which benefits (lowers) LDL cholesterol levels. In fact 2 studies just published also concerned cholesterol (that’s in addition to the one I just commented on, using IV infusions of “good” cholesterol). Study 1 In the first study, people who took a probiotic supplement containing a beneficial bacteria saw their cholesterol levels improve, and in the second study a freeze-dried concoction made from a genetically engineered tomato had a similar effect on mice. In study number one, 127 people with high cholesterol took a twice-daily supplement of a special strain of the Lactobacillus reuteri bacterium for nine weeks. They experienced an average 11.6 percent drop in LDL “bad” cholesterol and a 9.1 percent drop in total cholesterol, compared to those taking a placebo. That’s better than statins!

It’s rather amusing, to position this story right after the previous one. But gene engineers have come up with a tomato which benefits (lowers) LDL cholesterol levels. In fact 2 studies just published also concerned cholesterol (that’s in addition to the one I just commented on, using IV infusions of “good” cholesterol). Study 1 In the first study, people who took a probiotic supplement containing a beneficial bacteria saw their cholesterol levels improve, and in the second study a freeze-dried concoction made from a genetically engineered tomato had a similar effect on mice. In study number one, 127 people with high cholesterol took a twice-daily supplement of a special strain of the Lactobacillus reuteri bacterium for nine weeks. They experienced an average 11.6 percent drop in LDL “bad” cholesterol and a 9.1 percent drop in total cholesterol, compared to those taking a placebo. That’s better than statins!

Another Major “I Told ‘Em.” Actually, it’s not even mine. But I was one of the champion voices, first to demonstrate the method live on public television (BBC), and someone criticized openly by critical colleagues and called a fraud. So I certainly was telling ‘em! We pioneers had learned to use sub-lingual anti-allergen therapy, using safe, low doses by mouth. It was highly effective. The late Joseph Miller MD was probably its greatest proponent and the testing and neutralization technique became known as Miller’s method. To allergists and immunologists, the fact that we had a simple, safe method of controlling allergies was very bad news—it threatened their revenues and it is very dangerous to tread on the money hose in medicine! We came in for a lot of flack and accusations of fraud. Yet people died of their allergy shots; a series of doses of their allergens, in steadily increasing doses. In contrast, nobody, to my knowledge, has ever died or come to harm using the sublingual neutralization method. I must have tested over a hundred thousand substances and patients self-administered over a million doses in my care, with no ill effect. Well, all that was almost 40 years ago. Now a modern paper (there have been hundreds, incidentally) has shown yet again that we were right.

Another Major “I Told ‘Em.” Actually, it’s not even mine. But I was one of the champion voices, first to demonstrate the method live on public television (BBC), and someone criticized openly by critical colleagues and called a fraud. So I certainly was telling ‘em! We pioneers had learned to use sub-lingual anti-allergen therapy, using safe, low doses by mouth. It was highly effective. The late Joseph Miller MD was probably its greatest proponent and the testing and neutralization technique became known as Miller’s method. To allergists and immunologists, the fact that we had a simple, safe method of controlling allergies was very bad news—it threatened their revenues and it is very dangerous to tread on the money hose in medicine! We came in for a lot of flack and accusations of fraud. Yet people died of their allergy shots; a series of doses of their allergens, in steadily increasing doses. In contrast, nobody, to my knowledge, has ever died or come to harm using the sublingual neutralization method. I must have tested over a hundred thousand substances and patients self-administered over a million doses in my care, with no ill effect. Well, all that was almost 40 years ago. Now a modern paper (there have been hundreds, incidentally) has shown yet again that we were right.

Dear Dr. Keith, I recently purchased and downloaded your book “Diet Wise”. I read and followed your instructions carefully. And I wish to say to you how supremely grateful I am to you for writing this book. I have been suffering for 5-6 years from debilitating exhaustion that comes and goes. I have been overweight about 10kgs for the past 5 years and have been unable to shift the weight due largely in part because of my inability to exercise. There have been times where I have been unable to get out of bed for days on end with debilitating exhaustion for weeks on end! I have been unable to hold down any regular work due to this condition that doctors and naturopaths have been unable to explain. I myself have begun studying nutrition formerly and have spent the past 3-4 years researching everything I can about health. I’ve been on juice fasts, and macrobiotic diets, I’ve been vegetarian, vegan and have tried every diet in between. I’ve taken every miracle potion and supplement the alternative world has to offer, Nothing has worked long term. I have only really begun with searching out what my body can tolerate and what it can’t and I’m sure I have more to learn. I wanted to share with you two important food intolerance’s I have now learned by using the methods you’ve set out in your book. Firstly, every time I eat Thai green curry I get excruciating pain in my stomach about where my gallbladder is. I have had the same sensation at other times and not known why. I had thought perhaps it was MSG but have discovered that peanuts cause this pain as does pistachios.

Dear Dr. Keith, I recently purchased and downloaded your book “Diet Wise”. I read and followed your instructions carefully. And I wish to say to you how supremely grateful I am to you for writing this book. I have been suffering for 5-6 years from debilitating exhaustion that comes and goes. I have been overweight about 10kgs for the past 5 years and have been unable to shift the weight due largely in part because of my inability to exercise. There have been times where I have been unable to get out of bed for days on end with debilitating exhaustion for weeks on end! I have been unable to hold down any regular work due to this condition that doctors and naturopaths have been unable to explain. I myself have begun studying nutrition formerly and have spent the past 3-4 years researching everything I can about health. I’ve been on juice fasts, and macrobiotic diets, I’ve been vegetarian, vegan and have tried every diet in between. I’ve taken every miracle potion and supplement the alternative world has to offer, Nothing has worked long term. I have only really begun with searching out what my body can tolerate and what it can’t and I’m sure I have more to learn. I wanted to share with you two important food intolerance’s I have now learned by using the methods you’ve set out in your book. Firstly, every time I eat Thai green curry I get excruciating pain in my stomach about where my gallbladder is. I have had the same sensation at other times and not known why. I had thought perhaps it was MSG but have discovered that peanuts cause this pain as does pistachios.

Here’s a note from a dear friend in England. She is heavy on the sarcasm! For those of you who don’t know me yet, I was a leading pioneer back in the early 1980s, showing how foods can make people seriously ill. Some of the extraordinary cases and moving stories were featured in the press […]

Here’s a note from a dear friend in England. She is heavy on the sarcasm! For those of you who don’t know me yet, I was a leading pioneer back in the early 1980s, showing how foods can make people seriously ill. Some of the extraordinary cases and moving stories were featured in the press […] The post 40 Years In The Making appeared first on Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby.

I Told Em! Long-term subscribers will know I have an occasional jokey column called “I Told ‘Em!” It means I was saying it decades before others were “discovering” it. Back in the 1980s (and before) it was clear to a few pioneers like me that what we called “chemical allergy” (a bad term) was capable of sensitizing individuals to other allergens. I noticed it especially with foods; a person who worked in a strongly polluted environment would start to react badly to foods. It was scoffed at. I was called a fraud on TV (I got my own back mind you). It was called “non-scientific”. But doesn’t all science begin with interesting observations? Somebody sees something that needs explaining and it starts an investigation to see what lies behind the observation. The truth is that chemicals do sensitize people, exactly as I said over 30 years ago. Now scientists have figured it out! Exposure to a class of chemicals known as chlorophenols appears to be associated with an increased rate of allergic sensitization to food and aeroallergens, according to 2 studies presented here at the AAAI (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology) 2012 Annual Meeting. Some chlorophenols are used as pesticides and others are used in antiseptics. It’s an irony: the biggest critics of my medical paradigm was the AAAI! In the first of these studies, urinary levels of dichlorophenols were measured, and allergies to 11 environmental aeroallergens and 4 foods (peanut, egg, milk, and shrimp) were assessed with serum IgE levels in 2211 subjects 6 to 18 years of age. Allergy was defined as a serum IgE level of 0.3 kU/L or greater. Food allergy was identified in 411 subjects and environmental allergy in 1016 subjects, according to Natalia Vernon, MD, from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, who presented the data. It is possible that chlorophenols alter the gut flora, changing tolerance and allergic sensitization, said Dr. Vernon. Alternatively, the chemicals might directly affect the immune system. The analysis also showed that vitamin D levels modified this association, with low levels being associated with higher rates of allergy, but she explained that her group has not yet worked out the odds ratios for this association. Well, there are millions of us now trying to tell these idiots that vitamin D helps modulate the immune system and reduced allergic reactions!

I Told Em! Long-term subscribers will know I have an occasional jokey column called “I Told ‘Em!” It means I was saying it decades before others were “discovering” it. Back in the 1980s (and before) it was clear to a few pioneers like me that what we called “chemical allergy” (a bad term) was capable of sensitizing individuals to other allergens. I noticed it especially with foods; a person who worked in a strongly polluted environment would start to react badly to foods. It was scoffed at. I was called a fraud on TV (I got my own back mind you). It was called “non-scientific”. But doesn’t all science begin with interesting observations? Somebody sees something that needs explaining and it starts an investigation to see what lies behind the observation. The truth is that chemicals do sensitize people, exactly as I said over 30 years ago. Now scientists have figured it out! Exposure to a class of chemicals known as chlorophenols appears to be associated with an increased rate of allergic sensitization to food and aeroallergens, according to 2 studies presented here at the AAAI (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology) 2012 Annual Meeting. Some chlorophenols are used as pesticides and others are used in antiseptics. It’s an irony: the biggest critics of my medical paradigm was the AAAI! In the first of these studies, urinary levels of dichlorophenols were measured, and allergies to 11 environmental aeroallergens and 4 foods (peanut, egg, milk, and shrimp) were assessed with serum IgE levels in 2211 subjects 6 to 18 years of age. Allergy was defined as a serum IgE level of 0.3 kU/L or greater. Food allergy was identified in 411 subjects and environmental allergy in 1016 subjects, according to Natalia Vernon, MD, from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, who presented the data. It is possible that chlorophenols alter the gut flora, changing tolerance and allergic sensitization, said Dr. Vernon. Alternatively, the chemicals might directly affect the immune system. The analysis also showed that vitamin D levels modified this association, with low levels being associated with higher rates of allergy, but she explained that her group has not yet worked out the odds ratios for this association. Well, there are millions of us now trying to tell these idiots that vitamin D helps modulate the immune system and reduced allergic reactions!