The Weekly Health Tip
Allergies
by Phillip Day
Profile
Allergies are a result of the histamine inflammatory system, so our first suspicions move towards dehydration and lack of adequate whole salt. Dr F Batmanghelidj writes:
“You can naturally prevent asthma and allergy by drinking more water.
When you understand the physiology of the human body and the role of histamine
in its water regulation and drought management, you realize that chronic
dehydration in a vast majority of people is the primary cause of allergies
and asthma. Increased water intake—on a forced, regular basis—should be
adopted as a preventive measure as well as the treatment of choice.
In those who have had attacks of asthma or allergic reactions to different
pollens foods, more strict attention to daily water intake should become
a pre-emptive measure. These people will also have other indicators
of dehydration they need to recognize and treat accordingly before
a crisis attack of asthma endangers their lives and exposes them to possible,
premature death. Don’t forget, the chemical pathways dealing with dehydration
have no ‘brain’; they rush forward like a cascade. They are actually called
‘chemical cascades’. These dehydration-induced chemical cascades
kill many thousands of asthmatics a year. They are easily ‘turned off’
by water and salt, two strong, natural antihistamines.”1
Common food intolerances, such as those for wheat (gluten), milk (casein),
chocolate, eggs, oranges and other salicylates may disrupt hormone levels,
resulting in mental symptoms that can range from depression to schizophrenia
and the classic ‘straitjacket’ problems.
Symptoms
Many of these disorders occurring later in life, described as mental illnesses, may begin early in childhood and show up as eczema, infantile colic, rashes, fits and temper tantrums, excessive mucus formations, frequent rapid colds, hyperactivity, speech difficulties, anxiety, seasonal allergies and coeliac disease (malabsorption of food). All these initially should be regarded as dehydration issues. In Health Wars, I examine the problems brought on by infants force-fed cow’s milk during their first two years’ of life. This is a vulnerable period for a small child, whose immune system usually has not fully developed until the third year. Assaulting the child with multiple vaccinations, foreign and often hostile proteins, such as those found in wheat and cow’s milk, can lead to all sorts of problems such as autism and type 1 diabetes, especially when the child has not been adequately breast-fed to ensure the full spectrum of immune factors are taken to begin with.
Once the immune system is formed, there may be imperfections in how the
system performs when assaulted with particles the body identifies as toxins.
Damage and scarring to the intestinal wall by gluten/gliaden in wheat,
barley, rye and oats, for instance, destroys the finger-like villi which
absorb nutrients, leading to coeliac disease, where the food can pass
unprocessed through the small intestine. Leaky gut syndrome, where undigested
food particles permeate the damaged intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream,
is typified by systemic poisoning and a chronic-fatigue reaction of lethargy,
listlessness and depression.
Experimental double-blind studies and control trials conclusively demonstrate
that wheat, milk, cane sugar, eggs (often the whites), tobacco and food
additives are the chief culprits. In one control study, 96 patients diagnosed
as suffering from alcohol dependence, major depressive disorders and schizophrenia
were compared with 62 control subjects selected from adult hospital staff
members for possible food/chemical intolerances. Those suffering as ‘depressives’
were found to be the highest suffering from allergies: 80% were found
to be allergic to barley and 100% were allergic to egg white. Over 50%
of the alcoholics were found to be allergic to egg white, milk, rye and
barley. Of the schizophrenic group, 80% were found to be allergic to both
milk and eggs. Only 9% of the control group were found to suffer from
any allergies.2 Dr Batmanghelidj avers that the body’s
predisposition to react in these ways may be due to the specific ways
it behaves during drought-management.
Schizophrenics, routinely treated with drugs, were randomly assigned milk-
and gluten-free diets while on the locked ward. They were discharged nearly
twice as rapidly as control patients assigned a high-cereal diet. Wheat
gluten secretly added to the cereal-free diet undid this effect, showing
that wheat gluten was a player in the behaviour of these schizophrenic
patients.3
Elimination/challenge testing
Removing problem foods and then reintroducing them one by one under controlled conditions to see if the problems reoccur is known as elimination/challenge testing. This should always be done under clinical supervision, especially when side-effects may be quite severe, such as fits, asthma, anaphylactic shock, severe depression and violent, psychotic episodes.
The antihistamine effect
In The Mind Game, I examine the effects of histadelia, or excess histamine, in the body, and its association to mental illness. It is interesting to note that many psychiatric medications are very similar in their chemical profiles to antihistamines, and indeed are designed to suppress brain histamine receptors. Tricyclic and antidepressant drugs, such as imipramine (Tofranil) and amitriptyline, are in this group. Other drugs, such as chlorpromazine and promazine, are designed to inhibit histamine production and promazine is used to treat allergies. This seems to confirm the role of histamine excess in related emotional disorders and therefore Batmanghelidj, Pfeiffer, Holford and Hoffer encourage physicians to adapt their patients’ diets before resorting to potentially debilitating medication. Carl Pfeiffer has also devoted much of his professional research time to examining B6 (pyridoxine), zinc and manganese deficiencies, and their role in restoring his patients to health:
“Several vitamins are noted for their effectiveness in reducing allergic
symptoms. Vitamins C and B6 are probably the most effective. Dr William
Philpott has used both of these vitamins intravenously to turn off allergic
symptoms provoked by testing for allergies. The patients on adequate vitamin
C will have fewer allergic symptoms. B6 should be given to the point of
nightly dream recall and the minerals calcium and potassium should be
plentiful in the diet. Zinc and manganese are also needed by the allergic
patient. Elimination of the offending foods may be needed for several
months. For multiple food allergies, in which this approach would severely
limit the diet, a four-day rotation diet in which each food is eaten only
once every four days should be tried. If this approach is unsuccessful,
intradermal allergy testing to determine the degree of allergy and the
neutralising dose of each allergen is recommended.” 4
Most patients suffering from food allergies also have pyroluria, where
excessive pyrrole chemicals are found in the urine, binding vitamin B6
and zinc (see Pyroluria). Since coeliac damage to the intestinal wall
may result in malabsorption of nutrients into the body, while often allowing
undigested food proteins into the blood creating allergy, healing of the
intestinal system is vital to a restoration of the patient to full nutritional
homeostasis.
A reminder on water and salt
Intake should be half the patient’s bodyweight in ounces. i.e. a 140 lb woman should drink 70 oz of water a day (8-10 glasses). Salt used should be organic, unrefined Himalayan, Celtic or sea salt; half a teaspoon per 10 glasses of water per day. Those having trouble sleeping may put a small pinch of salt on their tongue and allow to melt after turning in. This is also a good idea after drinking two glasses of water upon rising. Sensors on the tongue detect salt intake and help suspend the body’s production of histamine.
Resources
The ABC’s of Disease by Phillip Day
The Essential Guide to Water and Salt by F Batmanghelidj and Phillip Day
