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Expert food sensitivity dietitian Joan Breakey

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Iron deficiency anaemia and food intolerance

February 1, 2018 by Joan Breakey   Article

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 anaemia, so the problem was not related to low intake of iron-containing foods. What was even more surprising was that once they had been on the low-chemical diet for a few months they reported that iron levels were much closer to normal. In clinical research we listen to everything our patients tell us and gradually note important ideas that are mentioned often. After the early reports I asked about anaemia more and heard the same story more often. Then I learned that salicylate interferes with iron absorption and realized that the problem and the improvement on a low salicylate diet made sense. We do not know whether salicylate only has this significant effect in food sensitive people.

I suspect food sensitivity is in the genes, but can manifest itself in older age, (IBS, where symptoms happen after 50, fits this idea), as well as in infancy and early life. Sometimes it can happen when someone leaves home where the foods suited the family and they had few symptoms, but when the diet broadens symptoms happen. patients often say “Why is this happening to me now?” and the answer is that we do not know. But we can help with the symptoms.

Categories: Iron deficiency anaemia and food intolerance 3 Comments

Comments

  1. Jennie says

    February 5, 2018 at 1:08 am

    Really appreciate your articles Joan, especially this one as one of my daughters (in her 40’s) seems to regularly have low iron levels and now I get it that improving diet eg more red meat etc is not necessarily going to be the answer. will look into the salicylate foods she is eating on a regular basis.

    Reply
    • joan says

      February 5, 2018 at 8:20 am

      All the best Jenny, remember herbs, spice, tea, concentrated tomato, and acidic fruit are the worst offenders. Joan

      Reply
  2. D'anah Wallace says

    February 2, 2018 at 2:21 am

    Thanks. That is good to know, as I have problems absorbing iron (quite often anaemic, my Dad was too)

    Reply

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Joan Breakey

Joan Breakey is the author of foodintolerancepro.com.  She is one of the few dietitians in the world who has a lifetime of specialisation in the area of Food Sensitivity. She is a  Dietitian, Home Economist and Teacher. In 1975 she began her first work on Diet and Hyperactivity, investigating the effects of the Feingold diet on children’s behaviour. For more than 45 years Joan has been writing books and articles, publishing and presenting the results of her ongoing research in this area.

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