John Malki
Food Allergies
Why are food allergies so common, and so hard to treat? I think it's because of the following cascade of circumstances. The common popular diet is very deficient in fiber. Animal products have no fiber. "Wheat flour" products such as common breads and pastas, white rice, and other non-whole grains are also low in fiber. Too few fruits, vegetables, legumes, etc., result in insufficient dietary fiber. Besides being a source of nutrients, fiber does two things in the intestines: (1) it keeps the intestinal lining healthy, and (2) it feeds the beneficial bacteria in the gut. A healthy intestinal lining and healthy gut microbiome create a functional barrier between the gut and the bloodstream; it's a filter keeping large, under-digested molecules from entering the bloodstream. An unhealthy intestinal lining has large gaps that permit undigested compounds into the bloodstream. This is called "leaky gut syndrome."
Take gluten for example. Gluten is a protein that is never supposed to enter the bloodstream. It is supposed to be broken down in the intestines into its constituent amino acids, and only those nob-allergenic amino acids enter the bloodstream. But in a leaky gut, gluten enters the bloodstream, where it triggers the immune system to produce antibodies to it. That immune reaction is a food allergy.
The remedy is not to abstain from allergic foods perpetually. The remedy is to eat a HIGH FIBER DIET, which will, in time, heal the intestines and restore a functional microbiome, reversing leaky gut syndrome. Now, all of the large molecules that previously entered the bloodstream will remain in the gut to finish digesting, and will not penetrate into the bloodstream; instead, they break down, and their constituent nutrients pass through, as intended.. Over time, without the undigested molecules in the bloodstream, the immune reaction, and associated allergy, will fade.
So food allergies are so common, and so hard to treat, because the standard popular diet is SEVERELY DEFICIENT IN FIBER.