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Best Summer Health Tips From Dr. Oz: Food Allergies
By Dr. Mehmet Oz
The two most common, food allergies, which are rampant in America, are dairy allergies and gluten allergies. For the many folks who come on my show and ask about feeling tired or worn out or swollen or bigger bags under their eyes or not being able to go at full speed, the first tip I almost always give is to cut both out. Now, we don’t know if you have an allergy or to which one it might be, but elimination diets are good ways to figure this out. They’re better than testing you in other ways; plus, they give you real functional information. By the way, it’s not a bad idea anyway to, once in a while, go without those foods.
Gluten allergies are caused by proteins in wheat products, lots of grains, … have a gluten issue. So, it seems pretty simple. You just avoid eating bread and you’d be okay, but it’s not the case because we have so many different types of gluten products used in condiments, ice cream, in places you don’t expect to see them, they appear. So, you really have to check to make sure there is no gluten in the food you eat to assess whether or not you have a gluten allergy. You can acquire a gluten allergy as you mature as well in life, so it’s not just something that kids can be able to diagnose and they carry it through their lives. The good thing about having gluten allergies is just about everybody on a gluten-free diet loses weight. So, it’s not a bad side effect to have.
Dairy allergies are usually not as severe as gluten allergies. Gluten allergies are sometimes auto-immune ailments in reality, like celiac disease where dairy is pretty much an intolerance to the ability to lactose in sugars in milk. If you don’t have the enzyme lactation in your gut, if your ancestors didn’t have to digest milk, which African-Americans rarely had to because they had plentiful sources of food, so they don’t have those enzymes. Many whites don’t either. So, you develop lactose intolerance as you get older.
There are now many solutions. There are lactose-free drinks. You can take lactase as a pill; it’s an enzyme to help treat it, but again, you need to be cautious, if you’re going to be lactose-free, to make sure that you really identify lactose because it sneaks up on you in places you do not expect it.
Dr. Mehmet Oz
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I have to request a correction to this article. Lactose intolerance and a dairy allergy are NOT the same thing! As stated in the article, what is previously stated as a dairy allergy is really lactose intolerance which ” is pretty much an intolerance to the ability to lactose in sugars in milk.” A true dairy allergy is an immune system (IgE) response that is significantly more severe than lactose intolerance. A physician publishing information regarding food allergies should be absolutely certain they are publishing accurate, up to date, and beneficial information. This article is a great disservice to people suffering from true, IgE mediated, life threatening milk allergies, such as my 5 year old son. The general public has a grave misunderstanding of food allergies and apparently is no better educated than a well regarded physician with a wide fan base and many avenues to spread wrong information. There is no excuse for the publishing of such a horribly misrepresented article. Wrong information from a physician published as truth is absolutely horrific and could cost someone their life.
With all due respect, Dr. Oz, you have completely missed the mark regarding dairy allergies. These two statements: “Dairy allergies are usually not as severe as gluten allergies. Gluten allergies are sometimes auto-immune ailments in reality, like celiac disease where dairy is pretty much an intolerance to the ability to lactose in sugars in milk” are incorrect. I believe you are referring to lactose intolerance, but a true dairy allergy has absolutely nothing to do with lack of lactase enzymes. While I’m sure lactose intolerance can cause great discomfort to sufferers, a true dairy allergy reaction can be severe, sometimes requiring emergency treatment and has the potential to be fatal. Dairy allergies occur when antibodies within the immune system target milk proteins as foreign invaders and create a complex cascade of immune responses and release of chemical mediators that can precipitate hives, vomiting, swelling, airway constriction, and a drop in blood pressure that may result in anaphylactic shock and death if not properly and promptly treated. Implying that dairy allergies are even slightly related to lactose intolerance does a huge disservice to those of us trying to improve food allergy awareness.
I really like Dr. Oz and am very disappointed in this article. My son has multiple life threatening food allergies including milk allergy. He carries epi pens wherever he goes and has had anaphylaxis for all his allergies including milk. Dr. Oz is talking about lactose intolerance, a condition where people are unable to break down lactose in milk and get GI discomfort but he uses the term, ‘food allergy’ which means something very different. When the seriousness of food allergies gets downplayed by famous doctors it potentially can make things much more difficult and even dangerous for those of us dealing with life threatening food allergies. There are so many people who mistakenly think taking a pill can enable people with food allergies to eat their allergens or who do not realize that a little bit, even cross contamination, can cause anaphylaxis. I hope Dr. Oz will learn about food allergies before writing about the topic in the future.
This is in regards to Lactose & Gluten Intolerance, NOT Food Allergies. Please don’t say Food Allergies if you are not talking about true IgE Mediated Food allergies.
Thank you all for your comments and concerns over this article. We have alerted Dr. Mehmet Oz’s team and asked them to respond.