To be tired of so called food "intolerances" in children when the parent can't explain what symptoms the alleged intolerance produces?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

For the record, I am NOT talking about proper food allergies - coeliac disease, nut allergy etc. DD had some friends round for a sleepover the other week, and one mother said "oh X can't have anything dairy, she is intolerant to it." Fine, I cooked everything with soya milk and veg margarine. Another child was intolerant to wheat, so cakes were all gluten free as well. Gluten intolerant boy also had an intolerance to bananas. Apparently.

Asked parents what the symptoms were of these "intolerances" when children were collected. The wheat boy "bloated a bit after having bread once". Bananas? Apparently the doctor tested for banana intolerance and he was, although had never shown any signs. Dairy child "sometimes gets a tummy ache" if she has cheese. Has she had tests? Oh no. Parents self diagnosis.

Am I being unreasonable to think that this has all gone a bit far, and is used by mothers to show just how "precious" their little one is?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

IMHO's tomato post is spot on!

And I liked Miranda, too. I have an intolerance to McDonalds and Lush. Everytime I pass them I want to be sick...

[Upwind]

Pitchounette

"that you can tell better than a nutritionist whether a child is intolerant or not."

I am just as qualified to call myself a nutritionist as many of those who charge for such services, e.g. Patrick Holford or "Dr" Gillian McKeith

"nutritionist" doesn't actually mean anything

[MeMySonAndI]

Yes, you are a nutritionist and in a serious need of Omega oils!

[susiecutie]

What I do often wonder about though is that why is it now that we seems to have SO many children born these days with such allergies and intolerances.

I realise, of course, a huge amount of it is due to testing and recognition of such problems. however, there just was never in the past so so many people with such problems and issues surrounding food.

What is it in our environment, our life styles, possible our genetics, which appears to be causing such high numbers of people unable to digest and process certain food groups, when historically we have thrived and lived of the same food groups for generations.

I would love to understand, and know how this can be. Of course, I'm sure many if not all of you who have to cope with it daily would also like...

There is such a huge void in research in this area. why is it that our bodies and systems seem to be rebelling to the diets our generation and generations before have happily consumed. It cannot just be down to testing and screening, surely? Surely the fact we need the tests and screening is just because so many children and adults alike, are exhibiting adverse reactions or behavioral changes associated with food.

What is that has changed? IS it genetics? IS it simply environment? or is there something else going on here?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I feel a bit dim saying this, having started this thread, but I cannot eat artichokes or pumpkin - I honk them back up almost immediately. I've always said they don't agree with me - should I be a bit more diva-ish about it and say I am intolerant to them? Is it a bit seventies just to say they don't agree with me?

Interesting point, Susie - I wonder if the amount of food allergies these days is due to overprocessing or fertilisers, pesticides etc? Or is it just better diagnosis? I think it's interesting that peanut allergy is almost unheard of in Africa, where the peanut is a major source of protein.

[hennipenni]

Can i just ask those who think intolerances are just "fads " how they would feel if other people thought this of their own chilren if they were unlucky enough to be intolerant to something?

[susiecutie]

hennipenni, I think you have missed the point, like many other posters on this thread... its not dismissing people with genuine real problems. far from it.

That debate seems to have been done to death a bit tbh.

I was NOT suggesting in anyway that it is a 'fad'. I am making the observation that there is a GENUINE increase in these problems.

I was not for moment suggesting that just because there are more now than historically that it is therefore a fad! god, i hope that is not how it appeared

[MeMySonAndI]

Yes, so many questions... why so many more people die of cancer?, why there are so many more autistic children?, why are there so many people not drinking tap water anymore?, why, if we are far more careful with the environment than we ever were before, things do not get better? etc etc.

[MeMySonAndI]

Susiecutie, with all due respect... I think that you are mising the point that some people in this thread have been less than sensitive to the feelings of some mums whose children are unlucky enough to be part of the intolerant group. It is my impression that Hennipenni's post was directed to those posters.

The fact that you are lovely and understanding doesn't meant that all the people in this thread has posted with the same good intentions.

[susiecutie]

oh, then, fair enough I felt it was getting at me

[Upwind]

Susiecutie - good question about the rise in allergies and intolerances. I suppose it might be pesticides or excessive use of cleaning products or air pollution...

It might also be the nocebo effect

"A 2004 study suggested that one patient in six seen by a GP may have some form of psychosomatic illness, when physical symptoms such as stomach pains, headaches or fatigue have no medical reason and are caused by mental factors, such as anxiety and depression.

Some diseases are thought to be particularly prone to mental factors. These include psoriasis, eczema, stomach ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome. "

That article reminded me that my cousin has an egg allergy. We were both at our Grandmother's house one day and I saw her using egg to make dessert and helpfully pointed out that cousin couldn't have any. She said he could as long as he did not know it was there, he would enjoy the food with no symptoms. When he knew it was there his reactions to egg involved projectile vomiting - that the problem was possibly psychosomatic did not make it any less real or problematic. This is why the scaremongering of unqualified self-styled nutritionists should be outlawed.

As far as I know the only way to tell if intolerance/allergy involves a physical reaction is a blind folded food challenge in a hospital setting. Even if a child does not know what is in their food they may pick up on a parents' body language.

[iwillbepositive]

I'm not getting at you you upwind, but that is exactly the kind of post that terrifies me.

My MIL is not a million miles away from slipping something into DD's food to out her allergy. If it were egg we would almost certainly need an ambulance and she might not survive - last reaction to milk involved her going blue and needing oxygen, fluids, adrenaline and a night in the high dependency unit.

I know you are not suggesting all reactions are psychosomatic but there is a dangerous tendency to imply that most are 'in the mind'. You do say that that it doesn't diminish the impact on the family but it reveals a prejudice that so many people have even about severe allergies.

DD's first reaction was when she was absolutely tiny and it came as a complete shock. There is absolutely no element of psychological effect - it has had plenty of effect on my and my husband's psyche since but that is a different story!

I think this is a classic case where you just don't understand the sensitivities unless you are involved. Transferring these sentiments to any other childhood illness/disability would be unacceptable IMO and yet allergies are considered fair game as a focus for a lot of issues about over protective parenting.

[hennipenni]

Susiecutie, my post was no way directed at you, I'm sorry if I upset you, that was not my intention. It's just that as a mother to a child with intolerances and and another child with allergies (we are a very allargic family) i get fed up with having to defend my childrrens diets. Please don't take offence as non was intended

[susiecutie]

Its ok hennipenni

[MeMySonAndI]

"As far as I know the only way to tell if intolerance/allergy involves a physical reaction is a blind folded food challenge in a hospital setting. Even if a child does not know what is in their food they may pick up on a parents' body language. "

Wrong on that too. You are doing your work of misinforming people remarkingly well, Upwind!

However, you may like to know that food challenges are rarely used on under 5s, unless the child has tested negative for the allergen (on RAST or Skin Prick Test -medical test in case you are not aware what that is) in some ocassions for several consecutive years.

Food challenges may help to discard allergies but they are most definitively useless for intolerances, as the main difference between allergy and intolerance is that the latter present itself as a delayed response.

[MeMySonAndI]

remarkably!

[Snoopy99]

Nobody in their right mind would object to someone's genuine at-risk-of-death allergy. But when I was a kid, I didn't know a single child who had any kind of allergy. Now, in the nursery where I have my pregnancy yoga classes, there is a chart on the wall of every kid in the class's 'allergies'. Strawberries seem to feature a lot. All I can say is these parents are making a rod for their own backs. It's entirely their choice to go down this route but do they honestly think it's in the best interest of their child? And I for one will not be indulging their faddy demands at my child's birthday parties! They'll get a piece of lettuce and be glad of that!!

[iwillbepositive]

Snoopy99 - Strawberries are actually a highly allergenic food so it is quite possible that they are a problem for these children. There are 12 major allergens, some of which (like mustard or celery) sound highly unlikely but it is a fact, I'm afraid, so sceptical or not we just have to accept it.

Just because there are far more allergic children than in 'our day' does not mean they are making it up! Peanuts for example are thought to cause more problems now because of climate change - peanut mould is more prevalent and it is this rather than the nut which is the allergen. But maybe you are sceptical about climate change too....

Levels of autism have also rocketed over a similar period - are these parents inflating their children's symptoms or being over protective too? Perhaps there just a lot we do not know about how developing immune systems react to our environment?

Why is it that everyone is an 'expert' on allergies? By being so dismissive, with really very little knowledge, you are making life even harder for those of us who have been forced to become experts.

[iwillbepositive]

And BTW the lettuce comment just sums up this unpleasant, ignorant approach.

I hope you never have to watch your child sit with hordes of others eating cake or ice cream at parties, whilst they eat their own packed lunch (carefully made before every birthday party and every tea out and every restaurant meal I have ever had with my child).

[Nightynight]

what iwillbepositive said.


upwind, it is well known that depression causes physical symptoms as well as mental ones. Depression is a very unpleasant illness. The quote that you posted, appears to suggest that people whose symptoms arise from depression aren't really ill.
Surely you don't beleive that?