THE ECOLOGY UNIT IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF ALLERGIES: FOOD TESTING
Once all the variables of the environment have been controlled and the patient is feeling better and has found a compatible water, he is ready to begin his food tests. Generally speaking, the patient breaks his fast with some form of fish, if he has no known allergy to it. It can be either fresh fish or a special form of salmon specifically bottled for the unit in glass.
If this fish is tolerated, the patient is then started on foods which he formerly consumed in some form at least once every three days. During this stage of food testing, the patient is given only organic, chemically less contaminated foods. These are obtained from reliable health food stores. Each meal is made up only of one food, in portions as large as the patient desires. These meals are prepared in stainless steel or glass containers.
The patient is then watched for signs of a reaction. Some foods, even those normally eaten with great frequency, are well tolerated. Others may cause a recurrence of symptoms. The patient is instructed in how to look for and record reactions to these foods. He employs a code, in which reactions are rated either OK (meaning the food is well tolerated), or first, second, third, or fourth degree, indicating the severity and speed of the reactions.
A first degree food produces minor, localized, transient reactions such as a runny nose, itching, mild rash, and so forth. These symptoms are generally of short duration and require no special treatment.
Second degree foods are those which cause a larger number of symptoms, more severe symptoms, or both. These may be either localized or generalized, but are normally not very severe. These symptoms often respond to treatment with alkali salts. Alkali salts are a two-to-one combination of potassium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate and are similar to the preparation sold over the counter as aspirin-free “Alka Seltzer Gold.” For reasons which are interpreted elsewhere,3 these salts often have a beneficial, even a dramatic, effect on allergic-type reactions. This relief may last a few hours. Milk of magnesia, which clears the system of offending substances, can also be helpful.
Third degree foods are those which produce a large number of symptoms or more severe reactions. If there is only one symptom but it is very severe or incapacitating, this is also classified as a third degree reaction. For example, any food which puts a patient to sleep is automatically classified as a third degree food, especially if the patient tries to stay awake but cannot.
Reactions in which concentration is altered or in which memory is impaired are designated third degree, because of the importance of these cerebral functions in everyday life. In general, third degree reactions are more severe, generalized, and incapacitating than either of the preceding categories.
A fourth degree reaction is, of course, the worst possible and is either very severe, very rapid in onset, very incapacitating, or all of these. Mania and convulsions are typical plus-four symptoms. Relief of a fourth degree reaction is basically the same as for a third degree, although it might include more vigorous efforts to empty the gastrointestinal tract. Oxygen, which also has a beneficial effect in such circumstances, might also be given.
As has already been indicated in the chapters on “stages and symptoms,” contaminated foods can also be used to detect the chemical-susceptibility problem. After the patient has passed his organic food tests, he is then tested on “normal” commercially available foods from the supermarket. The reason for such testing is twofold. First, it takes the average patient about ten days to recover from his formerly almost constant exposure to chemically contaminated foods. Thus, a test of chemically contaminated food early in his visit would not be decisive. Second, it is necessary to be sure that a patient reacting to a chemically contaminated food is reacting to the chemicals and not to the food itself. Organic foods which rated an “OK” in the first testing are thus used as a baseline control to which a patient’s reactions to commercially available samples of the same type are compared.
About five percent of the chemically susceptible patients react to their first meal of contaminated (“supermarket”) food; about ten percent to their second meal; twenty percent to the third meal; forty percent to the fourth meal; and twenty-five percent to the fifth and sixth meals.
The following commercially available foods are used for testing: raw apples, celery, and lettuce; dietetic canned peaches, cherries, blueberries, and pears; frozen broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and spinach; salmon, tuna, and chicken canned in lined tins.
These foods are selected because of their contamination with spray residues and with the golden-colored phenol resins in the linings of the metal cans. In my experience, next to pesticide residue, phenol resins are the most important source of chemical contamination of the food supply.
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