The careful analysis of the natural chemical salicylate, carried out by Dr Anne Swain for the RPAH diet, was groundbreaking research and was used as a guide in 1985. However, the amounts she found present did not correlate as expected with tolerance in patients. The reaction-causing chemicals may be salicylates or compounds somewhat similar to salicylate in their chemical structure. Even if we did know what the suspect compounds that cause reactions in food sensitive people are, they, and there … [Read more...]
Salicylate analysis in 2017 does it help?
Foods reported as high in salicylate but which are reported as not causing strong reactions in most diet responders included green beans, green peas, mild avocado, just-ripe bananas, unpeeled Packham pears, unpeeled pink lady apples, and persimmons. The 2017 salicylate data has not made understanding which foods you are more likely to tolerate easier. What is the problem here? Researchers good at doing careful biochemical analysis of chemical compounds are providing data on what they are … [Read more...]
Do different findings on salicylate amounts in foods in 2011 really matter?
We need to keep thinking about what foods contain salicylate from different research analysis when they become available. It can make us rethink the basis of a low salicylate diet. Here I will consider the 2011 work by Wood and team. How can we summarise what was found? Reading the following information can help you understand why it is so complex. The information is different from the earlier analysis results by Swain, and both analyses are different from what food sensitive people report … [Read more...]
Salicylates – really understanding these food chemicals
The research on the amount of salicylate in different foods shows different amounts even in the same food. Why are they the most emphasized suspect natural food chemical? Why can’t salicylate amounts in food be neat like tables of lactose in food? Doctor Feingold, the early researcher who made the connection between salicylates, and additive flavours and colours, tells the story of a patient who had a bad reaction to flea bites. A pharmacologist connected the low molecular weight compound the … [Read more...]
Iron deficiency anaemia and food intolerance
Early in my clinical research on the role of diet in ADHD I was surprised at the frequency that mothers reported anaemia. My clinical research collected diet information on over 1000 families. [ See my Masters thesis on diet and behavior and development of the diet ] Often they were very motivated mothers who had attended well to diet hoping that improving nutrition would decrease learning problems in their ADHD children. And they had made an effort to eat more meat to help with their ongoing … [Read more...]
Letter to MJA on Salicylate Elimination Diets
To the Editor: I am concerned that the recent articles on salicylate diets, 17 June, may be seen as a current position statement on the usefulness of a low chemical elimination diet. An elderly psychiatrist colleague said in 1976, “In 20 years time many parents will not be giving their children red cordial but scientists will still be discussing the issue!” The discussion continues, not because diet has no role, but because the issue is complex. On the one hand one meta-analysis cited … [Read more...]