Seasonal Allergies and Nutrition

I don’t need to tell you that hay-fever can make a beautiful spring miserable. If you also are sensitive to leaf molds then autumn isn’t much fun either. Loading up on over-the-counter allergy medications leaves you feeling wired and tired at the same time and a bit like your brain is swimming through jello for the day which doesn’t help matters. You’ve tried everything you can think of and still carry an extra box of tissues everywhere you go. But believe it or not, there are a few things about seasonal allergies that you probably haven’t heard yet.

We all have heard of antihistamine medications, but do you know what they actually do? The arsenal of specialized cells on the front lines of our immune systems include cells designed to carry supplies of biochemical weapons. Mast cells and basophils are little bubbles filled with histamine. They hang out on the margins of where our internal environment meets the outside world, so they are found in skin, the mucus membranes of the lungs, nose, mouth and eyes, and in the digestive tract. When an allergen activates an antibody (IgE reaction) and that antibody binds to a mast cell, the contents of mast cell are then spilled into the surrounding tissues causing lymph vessels and capillaries to become “leaky”. This in turn causes local swelling and puts other parts of the immune system on high alert. This is the start of an inflammatory process that progresses to watery eyes, a drippy nose, and sinuses full of mucus.

The interesting thing is that we also consume foods that are high in histamine and our systems react the same way by creating an inflammatory response to these foods. If our body is already on high alert from an environmental attack, adding in foods that are high in histamine can exacerbate your symptoms. It is a good idea to reduce your intake of high-histamine foods during the time of year you are more susceptible to allergens.

High-histamine foods include some of my favorites so it’s hard to let them go when they are what I want to reach for when I feel yucky, but here they are: chocolate, wine, beer, avocados, aged cheeses, cider, vinegar, smoked fish, soured breads, fermented foods like sauerkraut and tamari, yogurt, sour cream, pickles and olives. There are also foods that cause us to release our own histamine stores including ripe bananas, eggs, fish, milk, pineapple, strawberries and tomatoes. If you can focus on other foods or at least limit these foods during allergy season, your symptoms will likely lessen.

Additionally there are a few nutritional supplements that have a few tricks up their sleeves. Vitamin C actually acts as an antihistamine in doses over 1000mg. You can try taking 1000mg buffered C up to 5-6x a day to help “unstuff”. The bioflavonoid quercitin, and the herbs boswellia and nettles are also wonder-workers. Look for allergy relief blends of these nutrients to help boost your body’s ability to manage allergen attacks.


(also published in The Patch.com)

Reader Question: "Is eating yogurt daily good for the average person?"

The short answer: Maybe... It depends... On a lot of things... like your personal biochemistry, the source of the dairy, and the ingredients in the yogurt to name a few. The longer answer: First let’s take a VERY short look at the history of dairy as a human food. Really we should not be able to digest milk beyond when we should be weaned from our mothers, by about the age of six. Waaaaaaay back during when human tribes were far flung around the globe and not in regular contact with each other, the northern European tribes, Egyptians, and other groups who were domesticating cattle began to exhibit a genetic mutation that left the gene responsible for making the lactase enzyme in the “on” position. This meant that these humans could continue to digest the lactose sugars in milk beyond childhood. The tribes who were not exposed to this mutation have maintained their “normal” adulthood lactose-intolerance. This is why many African and Asian populations are largely lactose-intolerant. Today this is changing as genetic material is rapidly mixing as we become a more global society. 



Dairy as a food has changed radically in the last 150 years with the advent of pesticides, industrial confinement dairies, growth-hormone injections, antibiotics and pasteurization. Let’s just look at pasteurization for a minute. This process was largely adopted in an effort to stop the spread of diseases such as typhoid, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis that sickened many people during the early 1900s by way of ingesting contaminated milk products. Pasteurization is now mandated in many states and dairy products must meet certain national standards to cross state lines. The two main pasteurization techniques subject raw milk to temperatures exceeding 161F for 15 seconds (high-heat-short-time; HTST) or 280F for 2 seconds (ultra-high-heat; UHT). The UHT or “ultra-pasteurized” process is becoming more popular so now you can even find milk in tetra-packs on unrefrigerated grocery shelves. 



What does this do to the milk? Consider that milk proteins, primarily whey and casein, are fragile. When they are subjected to high heat, vigorous shaking, or high-speed blending, they begin to break apart quickly into random amino-acid groups or singles in a process known as “denaturing”. The body likes to receive intact un-denatured proteins so it can break them apart into the puzzle pieces it knows how to use. Highly processed dairy products create dubious protein bioavailability for our human systems. In addition, the high heat damages the fats found in milk, including beneficial conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which helps trigger healthy body composition balance (i.e. supports lean mass and helps the body let go of extra body fat mass). 



Keep in mind that toxins tend to travel most effectively up the food chain in fats (the subject another upcoming post) and you’ll want to avoid any non-organic dairy product as well.



So back to the yogurt question: Yes, unflavored yogurt made from whole, organic milk from grass-fed, hormone-free cows can be healthy for people who are not allergic to dairy or lactose intolerant. Highly-processed, denatured, fat-free, "squeeze-pack" yogurts with loads of sugar or sugar-substitutes and carrageenan thickeners? not so much (and especially not for children). Get the good stuff. Get as close to milk from a happy, healthy Bessie as you can. Get REAL.

Reader Question: "What foods are the most important to eat organic?"

An excellent question and let me say, you aren't the only one confused about this! First let’s clear up some misconceptions about what organic is and isn’t. What exactly does “organic” mean anyway? According to the USDA National Organic Program website, “organically grown” means the food was grown and processed without any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. However, this doesn’t exclude fertilizers or pesticides that are naturally derived, so, this doesn’t mean the foods were never sprayed with anything. Currently “organic” also means no sewage sludge, irradiation or genetic modification can be used in the production of the food or ingredient (whew!).

As of 2002 there are three sub-designations that are important to know about: “100% organic”, “organic” and “made with organic ingredients”. The “100% organic” designation is the only one that is just that. All the ingredients must be certified organic. In the case of “organic”, all agricultural ingredients must be certified organic except where a special “National List” allows them not to be. These non-organic ingredients can’t make up more than 5% of the total (not counting water and salt). In the case of “made with organic ingredients”, at least 70% of the finished product has to be certified organic (not counting water and salt). Any other ingredients that are not required to be organic on the National List can’t be produced but “excluded methods” (another special list).

Tricky? You bet! Political? Absolutely! Consumer friendly? Nope. That said, it’s still a good idea to eat as organically as you can afford to for your long-term health and the overall health of our interlinked ecosystems. But, what do you do when you can’t afford to eat all organically all the time? Here are a few simple things to keep in mind. First, the lower on the food chain you eat, the less intensely concentrated these toxins become before you consume them. As you move farther away from the original interaction between dirt, seed, sun and rain (ex: chard > beetle > chicken > egg; or grass > cow > milk > butter) the more the toxic residues from fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, antibiotics, and more become, so as the human at the top, you ingest much higher quantities via eggs or butter than you do via chard or oats. Spend your hard earned cash on organic butter (and other dairy), meats, poultry, and eggs. Breathe a little easier about whole grains, most veggies and most fruits. For a really good list of the top most contaminated and the top cleanest conventionally grown fruits and veggies, get the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” lists. They even have an ap for your phone so you have it with you when you grocery shop. For starters, only buy organic apples and spinach, but don’t worry so much about broccoli or avocados.

Lastly, when you start reducing "food products" with lots of ingredients on the labels and start eating more whole foods, you eliminate places where toxins can easily get hidden. Keep it REAL! Bon appetite!

(also published on the Patch.com)