Food Hypersensitivity: Diagnosing and Managing Food Allergies and Intolerance
食物過敏：食物敏感與不耐症的診斷及飲食管理
Edited by Isabel Skypala and Carina Venter – £39.99 from Wiley-Blackwell.
Alex Gazzola reports
Due to their exceptional complexity adverse reactions to food deserve a meticulously researched and exhaustive analysis – and this book can claim to be it.
Alex Gazzola reports
Due to their exceptional complexity adverse reactions to food deserve a meticulously researched and exhaustive analysis – and this book can claim to be it.
The editors, both allergy dietitians, have assembled a twenty-strong team of specialists to contribute chapters on every aspect of the subject: diagnosis, management, prevention, nutrition, and more.
For starters, Skypala and Venter would do away with the ill-defined term ‘food intolerance’.
Instead, they would have all reactions to food sit under the umbrella term ‘food hypersensitivity’ (FHS), with ‘food allergy’ reserved strictly for immune responses.
That dealt with, we launch into the dizzying array of reactions to which humans are susceptible from the lactase deficiency and IgE-mediated nut allergy to sensitivity to biogenic amines, and to nickel – and precisely how the skin, respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, nervous system etc can be chronically affected by FHS.
Diagnosis is the biggie, and the authors stress we have no 100% reliable test for any FHS; apart from food allergy, only an exclusion diet will provide a reliable diagnosis.
For starters, Skypala and Venter would do away with the ill-defined term ‘food intolerance’.
Instead, they would have all reactions to food sit under the umbrella term ‘food hypersensitivity’ (FHS), with ‘food allergy’ reserved strictly for immune responses.
That dealt with, we launch into the dizzying array of reactions to which humans are susceptible from the lactase deficiency and IgE-mediated nut allergy to sensitivity to biogenic amines, and to nickel – and precisely how the skin, respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, nervous system etc can be chronically affected by FHS.
Diagnosis is the biggie, and the authors stress we have no 100% reliable test for any FHS; apart from food allergy, only an exclusion diet will provide a reliable diagnosis.
Complementary diagnostic techniques are covered, but, they maintain, the absence of any rigorous research supporting kinesiology and it tells you all you need to know about their trustworthiness.
This book is designed for practitioners, doctors, nurses and students and the medical terminology and referencing may alienate the lay reader in places.
Far more accessible, though, are the nutrition and lifestyle sections on staying
healthy and safe.
healthy and safe.
Skypala’s chapter on fruits, vegetables and oral allergy syndrome (allergy caused by hay fever – surprisingly common) may appeal to allergy-trivia fans: the varying
degrees of allergenicity of different apple types, and some of the more obscure foods implicated in allergy: cassava, dill, turnip… Excellent too are the appendices detailing food challenge procedures – reassuring to those about to undergo allergy testing.
degrees of allergenicity of different apple types, and some of the more obscure foods implicated in allergy: cassava, dill, turnip… Excellent too are the appendices detailing food challenge procedures – reassuring to those about to undergo allergy testing.
Overall, perseverance will reward you with a comprehensive knowledge of FHS as it is understood today, which should be helpful in dealing with doctors and allergists – and alternativists with their magical cures and testing machines.
Well-indexed, and conveniently divided up into logical, often bite-size sections, it is easy to find the bits you want and skip the bits you don’t.
Hopefully this intelligent, stimulating book may draw more dietitians and doctors into specialising in allergy – much needed for the ever growing scourge of FHS.
(Source: FoodsMatter)
