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Are You Sensitive to Sulfites?

August 29, 2012

Sulfites are commonly added to foods as a preservative that inhibits oxidative discoloration (browning) and flavor changes. The problem is that many people are sensitive to sulfites and can suffer migraines, weakness, nausea, digestive disturbances, neurologic issues or other uncomfortable symptoms as long as four days after exposure.

You’ll find sulfites under names like “sodium metabisulfite” in prepared foods including beer, wine, baked goods, some canned foods, prepared or cured meats (hot dogs, bacon, etc.), fruit drinks and dried fruits.

Although the FDA has directed restaurants and other food retailers to declare if the foods they are serving have been treated with sulfites, you cannot depend on their forthcomingness. For instance, you should assume sulfites have been added to a container of cut or dried fruit at the grocery store unless it is specifically labeled “sulfite-free,”

You can find sulfite-free wine and beer if you look hard enough, and a good sulfite-free brand for dried fruits and vegetables is the Just Tomatoes series. Whole Foods Market says there are no sodium metabisulfites added to its 365 brand of dried fruits.

How can you figure out if sulfites are the cause of your problem? You can try eliminating all sulfite-containing foods and drinks for at least two weeks and see if your symptoms clear up. This can be a difficult strategy if sulfites turn out to be only one of many substances that are causing your body to react. A faster and easier way to learn what you are sensitive to is to take the MRT blood test that looks for hypersensitivity reactions to 150 foods and chemicals.

While sulfites are toxic to many people, sulfates may be more tolerable. Sulfite is converted to sulfate by sulfiteoxidase, a molybdenum dependent enzyme. If you just can’t seem to avoid sulfites, eating foods high in molybdenum may help reduce sulfite sensitivity. Significant sources of molybdenum include pork, lamb, beef liver, green beans, eggs, sunflower seeds, wheat flour, lentils, cucumbers and cereal grain.

Sulfites can also interfere with thiamine absorption. Thiamine deficiency can result in neurologic issues like Beriberi, Korsakoff’s syndrome, or optic neuropathy. People who consume a lot of foods or drinks containing sulfites might consider supplementing with thiamine (Vitamine B1), or simply adding more mushrooms into their diets.

If you are sensitive to sulfites, you may also be sensitive to sulfa drugs, soaps, and shampoos, so watch for the first sign of adverse reactions and cease use immediately upon swelling, rash, hives, burning, wheezing, etc. If there are signs of anaphalaxis, call 911 and seek help immediately.

Mom’s AutoImmune Disorder Increases Risk of Autism in Babe

August 28, 2012

While we might suspect vaccinations are contributing to the alarming rise of autism in this country, Moises Velasquez-Manoff, the author of An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases, thinks autism might be related to immune responses stretching farther back into the womb. Perhaps even to the mother’s autoimmune disorder.

In a recent New York Times column on autoimmunity and autism, Velasquez-Manoff points out that Danish research studying over 700,000 births shows a mother’s immune dysfunction can raise the child’s risk of autism by 350%.

As a mom with an autoimmune disorder, multiple sclerosis, I am particularly interested in learning about this link. Although my kids have aged beyond the autism zone, both show food and chemical sensitivity reactions (inflammation) and I’m certain there is a connection.

Velasquez-Manoff says: “The theme here is maternal immune dysregulation. Earlier this year, scientists presented direct evidence of this prenatal imbalance. Amniotic fluid collected from Danish newborns who later developed autism looked mildly inflamed.”

It all comes down to inflammation.

It all comes down to inflammation, yet again, but this time it appears to be the mother’s inflammatory response during gestation that influences the amniotic fluid that sensitizes the developing child, who later manifests as autistic. Perhaps autism is what it looks like when unwelcome swelling interferes with brain development.

The Feingold Association has a lot of research showing that autistic kids manifest behavior changes from ingesting chemical additives like the petroleum-based, FDA-approved Food Dyes & Colors (FD&C) in so many of our food (or food-like) products.

My goal, in both my own life and in my clinical practice as a naturopath, always focuses on reducing and eliminating inflammation through customized dietary strategies. Autoimmune disorders, like multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis, respond so well to personalized anti-inflammatory menus that I started the Fight MS with Food project to gather data about the efficacy of this approach.

Velasquez-Manoff might advocate intentional parasitic infection as a way to combat hypersensitivity that manifests as autoimmunity, but personally I’d rather change what I’m eating than choose to host a colony of parasitic hitchhikers. My theory reverses his: I think that sometimes parasitic infection can cause the inflammation that leads to autoimmune disorders, not cure them.

Picking Good Avocados

August 24, 2012

My mother-in-law has complained that the avocados she buys are bruised and spotted when she cuts them open that evening. My trick is to buy avocados before they are ripe, when they are firm and more resistant to bruising, and then to let them ripen over the following few days at home where they won’t be jostled and damaged. Avocados are ready to eat when they give slightly to a gentle squeeze. avacado

Avocados are on the Environmental Working Group’s list of the Clean Fifteen, those non-organic fruits and vegetables that are the least contaminated by pesticides, so you don’t have to feel guilty about taking advantage of those 10 for $10 specials when they come around.

Organic or not, always wash avocados and other fruit before slicing through the skin to remove grime, pesticides, bacteria, and parasites.

Wash Produce Before Cutting Through the Skin

August 23, 2012

Last week, at our annual summer family reunion, I was asked why I was I was washing the avocados before slicing them open to make guacamole. Washing all produce before cutting into it is a basic foundation of modern kitchen hygiene, but many people operate under the false assumption that fruits and vegetables with peels and rinds are exempt. This can be a dangerous mistake.

Bacteria, pathogens, pesticides, and grime can be carried by the knife blade from the skin and onto the flesh of your produce, contaminating the food you serve. As I’ve mentioned before regarding last summer’s listeria deaths from unwashed cantaloupes, washing the rind or peel before cutting into an item is the only way to prevent contamination of the flesh from the knife blade.

Even organic fruits and veggies should be washed first, preferably using a food-safe soap like Fit Veggie Wash or one you make yourself out of baking soda and vinegar or lemon juice, and then rinsed well.

Common produce items that people might mistakenly think are ok to skip washing include:

Citrus fruits like lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits. Don’t overlook that lime wedge you’re squeezing and then dropping into your drink where it can transfer all of its contaminants to the liquid and into your body.
Avocados
Pineapples
Melons
Artichokes
Winter squash (pumpkins, acorn, etc.)
Bananas, when are sliced with a knife
Kiwis

Don’t forget to wash your hands, too, after handling unwashed produce and before preparing your food, to avoid spreading any undesired contaminants into the rest of your food or household.

Can you think of any other fruits and veggies that people routinely think are safe to cut into without washing first?

Parboiled Rice vs. Raw Rice

August 12, 2012

Reader question: I have not figured out how to buy parboiled brown rice. Can you please give me some examples of brands? Is this like minute rice? I’ve always thought the nutrition was not as good as whole uncooked rice. ~ Gail H., San Francisco Bay Area, California

Hi Gail. Parboiled rice is rice that has been soaked in the husk, steamed, and dried before sale. Re-cooking parboiled rice does not take as long as cooking raw rice does because it has been partially pre-cooked already. On the stovetop, parboiled rice may cook in one-third the time needed to cook raw rice.

Parboiled white rice retains 80% of the nutrients of brown rice, more than regular white rice, which loses a lot of nutrients when the bran is removed during polishing. During parboiling, the nutrients are pushed from the bran into the endosperm, or kernel, of the rice.

Parboiled rice is often sold as “instant” rice, “minute” rice, “boil-in-a-bag” rice… The sole ingredient in parboiled rice is rice. Rice that has been slightly pre-cooked and then dried out. I can find parboiled brown rice in “boil-in-a-bag”, 1-cup portions in my local Kroger’s grocery store as well as in natural health groceries.

When I want to prepare brown rice in a Glorious One-Pot Meal, I find using parboiled brown rice gives more consistent results than starting with raw brown rice.

What I have not been able to find is parboiled organic brown rice. I’m holding out hope. If anyone finds any, please let me know!

Are You Sensitive to Sulfites?

Mom’s AutoImmune Disorder Increases Risk of Autism in Babe

It all comes down to inflammation.

Picking Good Avocados

Wash Produce Before Cutting Through the Skin

Parboiled Rice vs. Raw Rice

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