Dr. Fine on Sensitivity to Other Foods

DianeR · **Joined:** Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:29 am **Posts:** 1279

Another Q & A from Clan Thompson (obviously before Enterolab started their more extensive testing):

Dear Dr.

How common is it for celiacs to have similar sensitivities to other foods? I've heard 40% of celiacs have a similar reaction to milk products (not lactose intolerance, but an IgG or IgA reaction to casein). I haven't seen any statistics for eggs or soy, but I'm curious about those as well, since it seems as though I'm making my way down the list of the Top 10 Allergens (except I'm having autoimmune responses, not the classic IgE mediated allergic responses.) I seemed to tolerate these foods when I was first diagnosed with celiac, but a few years later, casein became a digestive problem, then eggs, and now soy. I also get cognitive dysfunction and arthritic pains from these foods. It's becoming harder and harder for me to eat, but my digestion, joints and cognition are improving immensely. - Alix

Dear Alix,

Studies from 1960's found antibodies to milk and eggs in more like 75% of celiac patients. I have always estimated about 50% react overtly to milk and soy. I think 100% of gluten sensitive people (And maybe everyone the way most of us eat unnatural foods) have some other food sensitivity. We will soon see as we are about to launch such testing from EnteroLab.

Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Fine, M.D.

groundhogg · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:39 am

He estimates 50% react to soy???? Ugh! THAT ain't good news, is it?

That was one of your intolerances tested, DianeR, right? I think the other day you were wondering what could be done in place of soy sauce...I remember Clary posting one time about grinding sesame seeds and adding salt and other spices to that to make something that would seem to function as an overall spice condiment in Asian foods...she was writing once here about how she learned to do that when she was into macrobiotics...the recipe (not sure it was an actual recipe, but more like a generalized formula, maybe) should be floating around somewhere...I can't remember what the stuff is called...I might try looking for it whenever I get the time (won't be today!) because I'm tired of having to go out of my way to get wheat-free tamari sauce...plus, overdoing the soy just makes me worry that someday it might start giving me problems (hoping/assuming that I'm not already on that side of the 50% by now...but, who knows for sure?)--

DianeR · **Joined:** Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:29 am **Posts:** 1279

groundhogg wrote:

He estimates 50% react to soy???? Ugh! THAT ain't good news, is it?

That was one of your intolerances tested, DianeR, right?

To answer your questions: yes; no, it isn't; and yes

At home I can always spice things up. But it is hard at restaurants. I was just looking at a book about restaurant eating for those with allergies. It is divided up by type of restaurant and shows where problems might loom for typical dishes. (Apparently, the same dish can be cooked differently by different chefs, so my thought of coming up with a list of sure fire dishes I can order was dashed). I was distressed to see how many places where soybean oil might be used or a bit of soy sauce added.

But I don't know that teeny bits of soy are going to bother me, such as a splash of soy sauce in a Thai curry. I'm not like one of those who have a major allergic response to the tiniest bit of soy. But I should stay away from big chunks of tofu ... I guess.

It would be nice of any of the stuff Dr. Fine says was in a peer-reviewed article or was being publicly critiqued by other doctors. He says this stuff and no one else seems to say yes or no. So what does one do?

This subject can drive a person nuts. I actually had a dream last night where I was ... reading ingredient labels. That's all I remember of it. I think I need a richer fantasy life :lol:

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