As described in Causes Of Allergies From The Holistic Point Of View, the primary allergens usually go unnoticed, and the dietary allergy nearly always expresses itself by means of other symptoms (see inset).
1. Symptoms of Dietary Allergy in Infants, Children and Adults
A primary allergy to dietary elements usually develops during infancy, when the infant is fed foreign animal protein which its intestinal mucous membrane system cannot yet process. Bovine milk proteins, for example, are thus taken into the body in an insufficiently processed form, where they function as foreign protein allergens and induce an immune response in the Peyer's plaques of the immune system, which lies alongside the intestines. If cow's milk is then later ingested, the organism reacts with a continuous immune response, which can lead to exhaustion of the immune system and the characteristic susceptibility to infection and other sequelae (see inset).
It is therefore of utmost importance not to give infants, up to an age of about 12 months, any dairy products, eggs or nuts, which all function as allergens in infants. It is regrettable that most of the powdered baby formula mixes are made with cow's milk and thus represent, for predisposed children, a high allergen risk. Therefore, children up to the age of 1 year should only be given mother's milk or soy-substitute formulas.
2. The Significance of Infestation by Molds and Candida
The significance of mold infestation (Aspergillus niger and Mucor racemosus and their respective predecessor stages) has been described above. Most allergy patients also suffer from mold infestation. Unfortunately, orthodox medicine does not yet recognize this fact, although it turns up nearly every time under fine-materials testing. The presence of this infestation is also explained by the patient's impaired metabolic milieu -- so common among allergy sufferers -- which provides a very favorable environment for the upward development of the fungal stages. Thus, in advanced cases, antibodies to fungi and various allergens can frequently be found. The treatment (see below) must therefore always include measures against the organismic stress of fungal precursor stages.
Candida is a particularly current theme. Candida (yeast) is often named as the cause of allergic diseases or (in alternative-medicine circles) brought into close association with allergies. Candida colonization is often found in allergy patients, both through blood antibody determination as well as through stool cultures.
However, based on our own investigations, candida is not the cause of the allergy, but rather the expression of a maladapted milieu -- and also quite frequently of heavy-metal intoxication. Thus, a holistic allergy treatment quite often improves the candida situation at the same time. On the other hand, an antimycotic/antibiotic candida treatment will do even more damage to the intestinal flora, thus further worsening the intestinal milieu and promoting allergic reactions even more.
Disturbance foci: Especially in allergic adults, disturbance foci are almost always found, the elimination of which can often improve allergic tendencies considerably.
Primary disturbance foci:
Under certain circumstances, disturbance fields can trigger allergies. The commonest forms are:
- Dead and ingrown teeth, dental root granulomas, periodontosis;
- Chronic tonsillitis (often with encapsulated pus foci), paranasal sinus inflammations;
- Gallbladder diseases (with or without gallstones), chronic appendicitis;
- Chronic inflammations in the region of the female sexual organs and -- much less commonly -- the male sexual organs;
- Chronic small and large intestinal inflammations;
- Scars of various kinds.
Disturbance fields are chronic subsymptomatic inflammations which exhibit remote action, partly by informational fine-materials means, partly via leukocyte activation. They affect the immune system by imposing a burden on the leukocyte/lymphocyte system.
Seeking out and eliminating disturbance foci can significantly improve the immune reaction, and thus the anti-allergic capability of the entire organism. The better the lymphocyte system reacts -- including Peyer's plaques, the primary lymphocyte organs -- the less the body needs to use the histamine/mast cell reaction as a defensive mechanism.
The main disturbance foci in children are, first, intestinal disorders and, second, chronically inflamed tonsils. However, these are usually compensation reactions following long-lasting overburdening of Peyer's plaques through poor nutrition in early infancy.
For adults, disturbance foci in the mandibular region (dead, root-treated and ingrown teeth, dental root granulomas) are the most common. Thorough holistic dental clarification, including the elimination of all dental disturbance foci -- which usually includes extracting all dead teeth -- is thus an important component of any allergy therapy.
Continue to: Correct Allergy Testing Methods
©Copyright 1996 by Dr. Thomas Rau, MD · Paracelsus Clinic, Lustmühle, Switzerland