Why are Food Allergies Increasing?

elimination diets food additives food allergens food allergies food sensitivities genetically modified organisms gluten glyphosate gmos gut microbiome pesticides roundup Jul 08, 2023

Wooden blocks spelling out "FOOD ALLERGY" surrounded by common allergenic foods

In the 1980s, food allergies were thought to have affected less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.¹ But more recent data suggests that number could be around 11 percent for adults and 8 percent for children today.^2,3 In this article, we'll cover the following topics to see why these adverse food reactions are on the rise:

Food allergy vs. food sensitivity
Common food allergies and sensitivities
Effects of pesticides, especially glyphosate
Use of GMOs

If you've read our article on food intolerances, you may recognize some of the same topics. But we'll see some different effects in this article, so keep reading!

Food allergy vs. food sensitivity

Food allergies occur when the immune system reacts to protein components of foods. In particular, antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE) trigger most allergic reactions. The most common symptoms are redness, swelling, and hives. These tend to appear shortly after food intake. Other symptoms, such as a runny nose and difficulty breathing, involve the respiratory tract. The digestive system could be affected too, with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

The mildest allergic reactions usually appear as a tingling or itching of the mouth and throat. But the most severe reactions can be fatal. During anaphylaxis, the immune system releases a flood of chemicals. Blood pressure drops quickly and the airways narrow, blocking breathing. Even very small amounts of food may trigger severe allergic reactions. Allergies are usually identified through skin-prick or IgE blood tests.^4,5

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, allergies differ from sensitivities. Food sensitivities are linked to antibodies called immunoglobulin G (IgG). The good news is that these reactions are rarely life-threatening. The bad news is that sensitivity symptoms can vary widely depending on which body parts are attacked by the antibodies. Among the most common are headaches, brain fog, skin irritations, stomach aches, acid reflux, diarrhea or constipation, weight gain or loss, joint pain, and fatigue.

Food sensitivities can lead to behavioral problems, especially in children. They are especially common among kids diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Regardless of age, food sensitivity symptoms can show up soon after exposure, or they can be delayed for days. This makes sensitivities difficult to identify based on symptoms alone. Fortunately, there are IgG blood tests available that can confirm the reactions.^6,7,8

Common food allergies and sensitivities

The top allergens recognized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. Reactions to these foods can sometimes be controlled through allergy desensitization therapy, which works by injecting gradually increasing amounts of the allergen to a patient over a period of time. Ultimately, the goal is to minimize the symptoms that appear when the patient is naturally exposed to the allergen. The treatment is time-consuming and expensive though, so it is usually only used for life-threatening levels of reactivity. Otherwise, eliminating the offending food from one's diet suffices to control allergies.^5,9 The top 8 allergens are now required to be disclosed on food labels in the US, making this elimination process much easier than it used to be.

Perhaps the most common food sensitivity involves gluten. This protein is found in wheat, rye, barley, and several other grains. People who are sensitive to gluten have a hard time digesting it. This condition can result from a lack of peptidase enzymes, which may be caused by genetic factors. Gluten sensitivity differs from wheat allergy, in which the immune system reacts to other wheat proteins besides gluten.^5,10

Several food additives are linked to sensitivities too. These chemicals are commonly used to preserve foods, and to improve how they taste or look. Additives include butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), which is used in oil-containing processed foods, and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), which is often found in preserved meats. BHA and BHT are antioxidants, meaning they help food products stay fresh longer by protecting them against oxygen exposure. Another common additive is monosodium glutamate (MSG), which acts as a flavor enhancer. It is commonly used in restaurant foods and canned products. Finally, sulfites are chemicals found in drinks, sauces, baked goods, and dried fruit. They prevent oxidation and bacterial growth, and also improve food quality and texture.^6,11 Other additives include erythorbates and nitrates/nitrites, which occur in preserved meats, as well as sorbates and benzoates, which are found in fruits and sauces.

Like allergies, sensitivities are best addressed through elimination diets. Though a little trickier to implement due to the lack of clear labeling for many of the additives in particular, it is possible for food sensitivity sufferers to reduce or prevent symptoms by avoiding the foods or ingredients to which they are sensitive in the first place.¹¹

Effects of pesticides, especially glyphosate

Pesticides aim to protect plants from pests, weeds, or diseases. They come in various mixtures, called formulations, and are used worldwide to increase crop yields and improve the perceived quality of agricultural products.^12,13

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup®, the world's most widely used herbicide (a pesticide that kills weeds and grasses). The chemical is also used for drying crops to speed up harvests. These two uses go a long way toward explaining why a lot of grains and legumes contain glyphosate residues. Unfortunately, glyphosate is toxic in several ways. It is made even more harmful by the supposedly inactive ingredients in weed-killing formulations. A study revealed that the Roundup® product was 125 times more toxic than glyphosate alone. On top of that, 8 out of 9 other pesticide formulations were up to a thousand times more harmful than their active ingredients alone.^13,14,15

Glyphosate itself inhibits cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the liver. This lowers the body's ability to get rid of environmental toxins. Inactivated CYP enzymes also impair the production of bile acid and lead to an insufficient supply of sulfates to the gut. What's more, glyphosate binds to metals like iron, cobalt, molybdenum, causing these minerals to become unavailable in the body. It depletes amino acids as well. In addition, glyphosate has been shown to decrease the activity of digestive enzymes such as protease, an enzyme that breaks down proteins. These latter three effects (mineral deficiency, amino acid depletion, and enzyme inhibition) are all associated with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks one's own tissues upon gluten intake. Symptoms of celiac disease include diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain.^16,17

Finally, long-term exposure to low doses of glyphosate-based pesticides like RoundUp® has been found to alter the gut microbiome composition and intestinal integrity. The resulting increased intestinal permeability is known as leaky gut, and it can allow other allergens to pass into the blood, where they come into contact with the immune system – an effect that contributes to the increase in food reactivity over the past decades.^15,18

Use of GMOs

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are plants, animals, or microbes whose DNA has been altered using laboratory-based techniques. Genetically modified (GM) crops are grown on more than 160 million hectares of land in at least 29 countries. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people eat GM foods directly and indirectly.¹⁹

Although genetic modification is ostensibly done to improve the taste and nutritional value of food, the main use of this technology is to make crops resistant to toxic pesticides. For example, Roundup®-Ready corn, soy, canola, and sugar beets contain a gene that makes the plants insensitive to glyphosate.²⁰ This means that farmers can more easily eliminate weeds without killing the crops. However, the weeds have been catching up, becoming more and more resistant to Roundup®, thus requiring greater application of herbicides.¹⁵

Genetically modified foods have been associated with a variety of health risks, including allergies. Expression of the genes inserted into an organism's DNA sometimes leads to the production of new allergenic proteins. For instance, certain bean plants were found to be highly allergenic after they were genetically modified to enhance their amino acid content.¹⁹ Foods engineered with genes from major allergens (e.g., soy, nuts, and wheat) should be of particular concern. Unfortunately, information about the sources of genes inserted into crop genomes is seldom available to the public because this information is considered a trade secret.²¹ Also, because the modified proteins are considered different from their sources, they are not subject to allergen disclosure requirements.

Conclusion

Food allergies and sensitivities are adverse reactions to food that involve the immune system. These reactions come with symptoms that not only affect multiple systems of the body, but also vary in onset and severity. For these reasons, they are diagnosed differently. Treatment options include reducing or eliminating intake of food triggers.

In the past decades, more and more people have been reporting food allergies and sensitivities. This trend coincides with the increased use of pesticides and GMOs to boost food supply worldwide. These pesticides, especially the ones with glyphosate as their active ingredient, have been shown to alter the gut microbiome and promote the body’s uptake of allergens. As for GMOs, their altered protein structures can trigger allergic reactions. Together, these toxic effects of pesticides and GMOs make them major contributors to the rise in immune-related adverse food reactions across the population.

Whether or not you have an allergy or a sensitivity, there’s another reason to avoid many of the food culprits mentioned above. Foods that trigger unpleasant reactions also tend to cause inflammation, a key player in almost every chronic disease. But chronic conditions aren’t a life sentence! Click here to discover how a personalized elimination diet can give you permanent relief and help create your highest level of performance EVER.

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