Medical Nutrition Therapy For Adverse Reaction to food

Changes in the modern diet and environment influences interacting with environmental influences interacting with a genetic predisposition have been implicated in the escalation to the adverse reaction to food and t&e parallel rise in other chronic disorders such as asthma and autoimmune diseases. Estimates suggest that 20% of the population alter their diet because of perceived adverse reactions to food. Currently the prevalence of food allergy in the U.S. population, when documented objectively with serologic assessment and food challenges, is 2.5%to3%. The prevalence is higher in children and is estimated to be about 4%to 7%, and in adults it is estimated to be 1%to2%.

Adverse reactions to food are implications in many conditions as a result of the involvement if major organ systems, including the dermAtologic, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and neurologic systems. The management of adverse reactions to food is complex because of the diverse response by which the body reacts to food constituents and the multifaceted nurture of the mechanisms involved. The clinical relevance of adverse reactions to food should be carefully assessed and evaluated in the nutrition care process because they can greatly affect a person is quality of life.

Definitions

It is important to comprehend the language of adverse reaction to food, it is can be a source of confusion and misunderstanding

Atopy: a condition of genetic predisposition to produce excessive antibodies in response to an allergen that results in the development of typical symptoms such as asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, or eczema.
Oral tolerance: the process that allows an individual to eat food “which is foreign” without any ill effects or reactions to it.
Food intolerance: an adverse reaction to food or food additive that does not involve the immune system and results from the body is own inability to digest, absorb, or metabolize food or component of the food.

Adverse reactions to food encompass food allergies and food intolerance, both of which can result in distressing symptoms and adversely affect health.

Food allergy is an immune system response that is triggered when food is eaten by a person who has been sensitized to it.

Etiology

Adverse reactions to food illustrate the critical importance of appreciating “biochemical uniqueness” as a core clinic concept in nutrition assessment. Numerous factors, including genetics and epigenetics, intestinal barrier integrity, microbiota, and loss of biodiversity, maternal and early fetal and early life factors such as cesarean delivery and lack of breastfeeding, stress, psychological factors, exercise, and environmental and physiologic influences such as changes in hormone levels, affect an individual is a unique response to food or food component and it is the ultimate interpretation by the body as either friend or foe.

Genetics and epigenetics food allergy has a hereditary component that is not yet clearly defined. Atopy is a condition of genetic predisposition to produce IgE mediated antibodies In response to an allergen and to develop typical symptoms. Atopic individuals, usually identified in infancy and confirmed by positive skin prick test, are characterized by server IgE mediated reactions to dander, pollens, or other environmental factors, which present as food allergy atopic dermatitis “eczema”, atopic conjunctivitis, atopic rhinitis, asthma, and symptoms in all organ systems, with the most severe being life treating anaphylaxis.
Antigen exposure and oral tolerance humans are exposed to thousands of foreign molecules daily from food and the environment. Exposure to these foreign molecules in the digestive tract is usually followed by immune regulation or suppression, such that the food is recognized as” foreign but safe “ which is a prerequisite for the development of tolerance to food or food molecule. This is known as oral tolerance. Oral tolerance is mediated by several immune responses. Food allergy occurs when oral tolerance fails and the food ingested acts as an allergen causing an immune-mediated reaction as discussed below. Ongoing research is focused on how oral tolerance develops and is maintained. The amount of antigen presented to the sensitized immune cell also influences whether allergy symptoms develop.
The Gastrointestinal function and the microbiome gastrointestinal function and the ability to prevent the inappropriate passage of molecules through the intestinal wall is key to the maintenance of oral tolerance and avoidance of the allergic response.