Kids wheat/dairy/citrus free dietary advice please

[scottduffy]

Hi Folks,

I've just had my son's allergy/food intolerance tests back today and they read as follows

mild intolerance - Durum wheat/pasta
Wheat
Lactose
House dust mites

Medium Intolerance - Cows milk, Cheese, Yoghurt, Cream single/double, Milk Chocolate, Goats milk, Milk protein (casien/whey), Citrus fruits, Kiwi

High Intolerance - Oranges


Now i am just starting to formulate some kind of dietary plan but whilst i do it i thought i'd ask you guys if you could help. I'm actually worried about cereals as we try to give him a healthy diet just now and he alternates between porridge and bran flakes but it looks like the bran flakes are right out the window. Anyone know of any decent kids cereals that we could introduce. No frosties or coco pops as he'll never eat porridge again !!!

The other worry is milk and cheese as he really like these to. Will need to read up on them asap.

I meant to say that i've been told not to cut these things out completely just reduce it by about 50-90% of it as his body still needs it. He's just turned 3 two weeks ago.

Regards

Scott

 

[JonathanRyan]

The other worry is milk and cheese as he really like these to. Will need to read up on them asap.

The "substitute milk drink" market is far better than it was 5 years ago. Sweetest unsweetened "milk" you can get is probably oat milk. Oatly is good and it's just, um, oats Other than that try Koyo coconut milk (nothing like old fashioned coconut milk) and for treats Rebel Kitchen Mylk which is awesome.

Cheese can be a bit of a b****r. Best vegan hard cheese IMO is the stuff you get in Tesco under their Free from range. Also, lots of people rave about Violife.

 

[scottduffy]

Thanks Jonathan,

Just getting my head around this. Trying to make a list. Every little helps as Tesco would say.

Regards

Scott

 

[JonathanRyan]

Oh yeah, be prepared to revaluate what you mean by "cheese"

 

[camerassassin]

Scott - were these tests ordered by your Doctor ? If so, I reckon a paediatric dietician would be able to help you sort things out as regards what he can eat.

 

[viv1969]

Lactose free milk and cheese are readily available in the big supermarkets.

 

[Alastair]

You should have been given an appointment with a dietician if this is through the NHS. They have a lot of good advice, take it. But as your been told not to cut these things out completely, I'm not exactly sure what this test is telling you.

I have Coeliac and have to avoid all gluten (wheat, barley, rye, oats unless certified cross contamination free - so no normal bread, pasta or beer for me). The available range in the Free From aisles is quite good, but tends to be expensive. And although I only need to avoid gluten that usually comes packaged with dairy-free, organic and a bunch of other labels as well.

The gluten free bread is generally crap. The best is reckoned to be the Genius brand but even that won't stand up to a sandwich with even a hint of moisture. The new GF wraps from Warburtons are better (3 for 2 at Tesco at the moment) as are the DS GF ciabatta rolls.

Find the specialist websites, Juvella and a couple of others will send you out a big box of samples for free. Ilumi (mail order only direct from their own website) is good for ready meals - but only buy when they have a 30% or greater discount sales on (rolls round every few weeks).

I'm guessing you don't yet need recommendations for the best gluten free beers.. ..

 

[Alastair]

Oh.. cereals.. Tesco have various GF honey loops and choccy pillow type things in the free from aisle, but also check the regular aisle for the Nestlé GF cornflakes and honey flakes which are cheaper (and better) than the ones on the free from aisle.

Own brand GF porridge is OK, and the Nairns GF oatcakes are a staple of my diet.

Watch for the of things that contain wheat/gluten that you wouldn't expect - soy sauce (get the wheat free Tamari variety), Worcestershire sauce (I think I found the GF one in Asda), brown sauce, etc.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

re cereals - Lidl do a nice blue bag of oats with mixed fruit (if he's OK with that). It is by far the best tasting healthy product at that price range. Don't forget you can add real fruit like melons, pears, berries (frozen also works), passion fruit, etc into cereal or oat bowl. It is best if he doesn't get used to processed breakfasts - they can be more "harmful" than chocolate bars.

 

[Alastair]

re cereals - Lidl do a nice blue bag of oats with mixed fruit (if he's OK with that). It is by far the best tasting healthy product at that price range. Don't forget you can add real fruit like melons, pears, berries (frozen also works), passion fruit, etc into cereal or oat bowl. It is best if he doesn't get used to processed breakfasts - they can be more "harmful" than chocolate bars.

Lidl don't guarantee that their oat cereals are wheat free. So maybe ok if you're just cutting down on wheat but no good if you're cutting it out.

Aldi and Lidl don't really do gluten-free, I know because I keep optimistically checking the ingredient lists whenever I see something new on the shelf.

 

[ghoti]

Have you had these done by a proper dietician/doctor or by some kind of independent nutritionist? If it's the latter I'd treat it with extreme scepticism and get a second opinion from a proper dietician. There are a lot of quack nutritionists around who make money by using ridiculous "machines" to "test" samples (they often use fingernails or hair for reasons that are pretty much just completely made up) which give them completely spurious readouts of arbitrary "allergies" or intolerances which don't exist. These machines simply do not work and are based on a completely discredited pseudoscience called "bioresonance". Others use a silly ritual they call "applied kinesiology", which also has absolutely no evidence to support its use. I hope this is not happened to you; but the range and specificity of grading the allergies concerns me. It looks exactly like the kind of thing offered by one of these charlatans.

Conventional allergy testing which is used by properly qualified practitioners is almost always patch testing (where patches are applied to the skin for a period of time and then inflammatory markers are measured). The only quantitative tests for intolerance are immunological, but these are ropey and the only real way to reliably test intolerance is a proper and extended regimen of food exclusion.

If you have been to one of these dodgy kinds of nutritionist GET A SECOND OPINION from a real doctor; otherwise you may be unnecessarily withholding important sources of nutrition from your child. Remember, nutritionists, bioresonance practitioners and applied kinesiologists are not recognised medical professionals, anybody can set themselves up in these fields, and they find no support in evidence-based medicine.

Please read this, particularly the section about testing ("How do you know you have an allergy"; "What other allergy tests are available" and "Are there reliable tests for food intolerance"): http://www.allergyuk.org/diagnosis--testing-of-allergy/diagnosis-and-testing

 

[JonathanRyan]

Lactose free milk and cheese are readily available in the big supermarkets.

This is true. But they tend to contain cow's milk.

 

[viv1969]

This is true. But they tend to contain cow's milk.

Fair enough. I was under the impression it was the lactose in cows milk that caused the intolerance, but bow to those with greater knowledge
The only one I have long borne knowledge of is Coeliacs. My brother has had that all his life...severely. He has to check every single thing he eats.
A lot of folk these days seem to have an intolerance of gluten and it gets called coeliacs, but if you've seen someone with zero tolerance accidentally ingest gluten it's scary stuff.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Fair enough. I was under the impression it was the lactose in cows milk that caused the intolerance, but bow to those with greater knowledge

It probably is the lactose. But in the list at the top the OP says his child has "mild intolerance" to lactose and more severe intolerance to cow's and goat's milk - it's probably also a sensitivity to casein. Which raises an interesting question about sheep's milk.

The only one I have long borne knowledge of is Coeliacs. My brother has had that all his life...severely. He has to check every single thing he eats.
A lot of folk these days seem to have an intolerance of gluten and it gets called coeliacs, but if you've seen someone with zero tolerance accidentally ingest gluten it's scary stuff.

Yeah - very different things......

 

[scottduffy]

Hi Folks,

A bit of background. These tests were not ordered by our doctor as when we went to see him to ask him to test Evan after numerous breakouts of his skin he said the NHS don't do allergy testing due to cost but if we gave him an idea of what Evan was allergic to he would then order the specific test. We had no idea what he could be allergic to so kept a diary for a while but there seemed no rhyme or reason to the skin breakouts. The doctor then told us we could have him tested privately and gave us the number of a clinic in Glasgow where we went and they cut quite a bit of Evan's hair right at the hair line near his neck then 7 weeks later they called me in and presented me with the results above. I called to make an appointment with his GP to discuss the results but as usual they're busy so we can't see him till 22nd December. I was just looking to act on the results so that when i went to see the doctor i could say whether we believe cutting back on the items above has made any difference.

The guy who gave me the results told me that Evan's body is obviously still developing so he does need dairy so i had to cut back on it by roughly 50% and replace oranges in his diet with tomatoes.

Evan has a really healthy diet or so we thought with Bran Flakes, Porridge, loads of fruit and veg and smoothie with breakfast but maybe this has not been helping him IF these results are correct.

Thanks for all the food suggestions. I was making a list last night so have some idea of what's not great and what we could maybe introduce.

Alastair - In our house Coke and Irn Bru are called beer. Since i don't drink Evan has no idea what beer is and i've called my juice beer from the get go and he knows not to ask for it since kids don't drink beer !!!

 

[JonathanRyan]

The guy who gave me the results told me that Evan's body is obviously still developing so he does need dairy

And I'm afraid that at that point I would file the person who told you that under the category of "idiot". No infant of any species ever needs to drink the milk of another species for "proper" development. It may be cheap and convenient but it's not necessary.

If he genuinely is allergic to the proteins in milk (and I have to say, I have concerns about some of these firms) then there is no sensible reason not to exclude it from his diet.

 

[ghoti]

Hi Folks,

A bit of background. These tests were not ordered by our doctor as when we went to see him to ask him to test Evan after numerous breakouts of his skin he said the NHS don't do allergy testing due to cost but if we gave him an idea of what Evan was allergic to he would then order the specific test. We had no idea what he could be allergic to so kept a diary for a while but there seemed no rhyme or reason to the skin breakouts. The doctor then told us we could have him tested privately and gave us the number of a clinic in Glasgow where we went and they cut quite a bit of Evan's hair right at the hair line near his neck then 7 weeks later they called me in and presented me with the results above. I called to make an appointment with his GP to discuss the results but as usual they're busy so we can't see him till 22nd December. I was just looking to act on the results so that when i went to see the doctor i could say whether we believe cutting back on the items above has made any difference.

The guy who gave me the results told me that Evan's body is obviously still developing so he does need dairy so i had to cut back on it by roughly 50% and replace oranges in his diet with tomatoes.

Evan has a really healthy diet or so we thought with Bran Flakes, Porridge, loads of fruit and veg and smoothie with breakfast but maybe this has not been helping him IF these results are correct.

Thanks for all the food suggestions. I was making a list last night so have some idea of what's not great and what we could maybe introduce.

Alastair - In our house Coke and Irn Bru are called beer. Since i don't drink Evan has no idea what beer is and i've called my juice beer from the get go and he knows not to ask for it since kids don't drink beer !!!

You can't test for allergies using hair. It is simply not credible. This sounds like pseudoscientific bioresonance nonsense, which is depressingly common. If you were referred to this "allergy clinic" by a real doctor I'd have serious concerns and get a second opinion, preferably through a dietician or immunologist.

The NHS certainly do carry out allergy testing. Real allergy testing. And it's done routinely. Who is this doctor who told you they don't?

 

[ChasG]

This thread has amused me so far as all the comments are directed at the low fat high carb end of the scale.

Why not feed him bacon, eggs and goods quality sausage?

Current thinking is that sugar is bad and fat is good

 

[camerassassin]

If I read the opening post here , correctly , the child under discussion is just 3 years old

You cannot afford to mess about with his nutrition. Changing his diet has to be done carefully and under good supervision - if indeed it is necessary. If his skin is that bad he should be seen first by a dermatologist and then referred for testing and follow up.

 

[ghoti]

This thread has amused me so far as all the comments are directed at the low fat high carb end of the scale.

Why not feed him bacon, eggs and goods quality sausage?

Current thinking is that sugar is bad and fat is good

It's not "current thinking". It's the current media simplification of a complex issue. Fat and sugar can both be good OR bad for you depending on quantity, the rest of your diet, your lifestyle, etc. The same can be said for almost anything you eat.
The best and most reliable dietary advice is and always has been this: eat a wide variety of different foods, mostly from plants.

 

[JonathanRyan]

This thread has amused me so far as all the comments are directed at the low fat high carb end of the scale.

Why not feed him bacon, eggs and goods quality sausage?

Current thinking is that sugar is bad and fat is good

Because the question wasn't "what's the current fad in diets for adults?"

 

[ChasG]

There isn't much wheat, dairy and citrus in my suggestion. A diet that has served the older generation for a long time.

 

[menthel]

If I read the opening post here , correctly , the child under discussion is just 3 years old

You cannot afford to mess about with his nutrition. Changing his diet has to be done carefully and under good supervision - if indeed it is necessary. If his skin is that bad he should be seen first by a dermatologist and then referred for testing and follow up.

This- unfortunately you have been sent to see a charlatan rather than any sort of health care professional. There is no way of assessing allergies/intolerances from hair- there is no scientific way this would work. Please get your GP to refer to a paediatric dermatologist. If they refuse then get another GP who will.

 

[simonblue]

It probably is the lactose. But in the list at the top the OP says his child has "mild intolerance" to lactose and more severe intolerance to cow's and goat's milk - it's probably also a sensitivity to casein. Which raises an interesting question about sheep's milk.



Yeah - very different things......

About sum it up

 

[camerassassin]

Take him to Yorkhill when his skin is really bad - use A&E and inform them your GP says a child of that age can't be tested.

The Homeopathic Unit at Garnavel General also looks holistically at the whole person - I don't know how much input into paediatrics they have , I'll admit.

It would also be sensible to see

1) how long waiting lists are
2) investigate if you can afford a private appointment with a paediatric dermatologist from RHSC to speed things up.

Please do not do any drastic alteration to his diet without further medical advice

 

[srichards]

Skin break outs sound more like a reaction to washing powder, soaps, household cleaners etc. I'd be looking at those first before food.

Unless an NHS test has been done or one that is done by a proper doctor the results are complete nonsense. Most of the allergy tests are just bunk. There is some evidence to suggest that the quality of gut bacteria makes a difference and that use of anti-biotics in young children upsets this so they appear 'allergic' to all sorts of things. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28887088

 

[ghoti]

Getting referred to a paediatric dermatologist is great advice.

If a GP has referred you to a wacky private allergy testing clinic that takes hair samples instead of getting you a referal to paediatric dermatologist, I'd be very concerned about the competence of that GP.

 

[Cobra]

I feel your pain, from a very young age my son had multiple food allergies,
That included wheat dairy and everything containing anything "artificial (E numbers.etc)
We did however find that Goat products had a lesser effect and he could drink small amounts
of goats milk (occasionally) we also make pancakes (occasionally) from buckwheat and water,
They tasted like crap quite frankly but he was happy to have that little treat.

After years of struggling with the NHS
(The main issue here was, they, that is the GP and local hospital refused to accept diet affects behaviour)
we finally got to see a dietician,
at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London (I know this is not an option due to your location)
They were very good, with their advice, helpful menu's that we hadn't thought of etc.
He had regular blood tests.
His IgE readings were way off the scale,
I don't know how much you have researched this, but,

An immunoglobulin E (IgE) test measures the blood level of IgE,
one of the five subclasses of antibodies.
Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system that attack antigens, such as bacteria, viruses, and allergens.

IgE antibodies are found in the lungs, skin, and mucous membranes.
They are associated mainly with allergic reactions
(when the immune system overreacts to environmental antigens such as pollen or pet dander)
and parasitic infections.

It is believed that his immune system was compromised at a very early age
by the MMR jabs. ( but that's a whole new and emotive subject)

The only hope that I can really offer you,
is that we were told that he would actually grow out of it,
by the specialists at C&W.

In fact he did, start to, when he reach about 16 years old.
He continued to "improve" and ate more and more of his banned foods.
He is now mid 20's, and occasionally, he is still slightly affected,
But know's when this happens and "lay's off" that food item.

An overdoes of one "safe" food type also had a detrimental effect,
eg apples were "safe"
One day we were out and he was getting very hungry,
obviously trying to keep a growing lad fed with a balanced diet was a nightmare.

He ate 4 apples, straight off the bat.
The next time he ate an apple, a few days later, he had an allergic reaction,
the normal signs were puffy red cheeks, then glazed eyes and ultimately "bouncing off the wall"

After cutting apples out of his diet for a couple (IIRC) of weeks
he was then back to OK with them, as long as it was no more than 3 a week.

I hope you find a solution

 

[scottduffy]

You can't test for allergies using hair. It is simply not credible. This sounds like pseudoscientific bioresonance nonsense, which is depressingly common. If you were referred to this "allergy clinic" by a real doctor I'd have serious concerns and get a second opinion, preferably through a dietician or immunologist.

The NHS certainly do carry out allergy testing. Real allergy testing. And it's done routinely. Who is this doctor who told you they don't?

Hi There, as i said above the will do it but only after i tell them what he's allergic to which seems crazy as i genuinely had no idea. I'm sure they'll order the tests now when i get my next appointment on the 22nd since i've got the paperwork indicating what he might be allergic to. It was our local health centre where my wife and son are registered.

Just about to read the rest of the posts folks.

 

[scottduffy]

This thread has amused me so far as all the comments are directed at the low fat high carb end of the scale.

Why not feed him bacon, eggs and goods quality sausage?

Current thinking is that sugar is bad and fat is good

I'm not sure about current thinking but he certainly eats good quality sausage as part of his diet. He's not overly keen on bacon and although i've tried he's not keen on eggs either. I only buy him good quality meats and he eats a fair amount of it. The problem could be that he gets a fair amount of dairy which we thought was needed for his bones etc

 

[scottduffy]

If I read the opening post here , correctly , the child under discussion is just 3 years old

You cannot afford to mess about with his nutrition. Changing his diet has to be done carefully and under good supervision - if indeed it is necessary. If his skin is that bad he should be seen first by a dermatologist and then referred for testing and follow up.

You are correct. He was three on November 10th. His skin is not that bad at all it just has regular breakouts which we were trying to get to the bottom of. A referral from a doctor might seem like an easy thing but having seen his a few times we've never been offered one and have been told many things including he's teathing, he's having a reaction to his own saliva, it's exzema and it's an allergy. We just want to know which of the above it is.

 

[scottduffy]

This- unfortunately you have been sent to see a charlatan rather than any sort of health care professional. There is no way of assessing allergies/intolerances from hair- there is no scientific way this would work. Please get your GP to refer to a paediatric dermatologist. If they refuse then get another GP who will.

I might have a word with my own GP if they refuse to refer him. It just seems a bit like i'm telling them their job and they're the ones who studied and learned their "trade" so they don't really take you seriously.

 

[scottduffy]

Take him to Yorkhill when his skin is really bad - use A&E and inform them your GP says a child of that age can't be tested.

The Homeopathic Unit at Garnavel General also looks holistically at the whole person - I don't know how much input into paediatrics they have , I'll admit.

It would also be sensible to see

1) how long waiting lists are
2) investigate if you can afford a private appointment with a paediatric dermatologist from RHSC to speed things up.

Please do not do any drastic alteration to his diet without further medical advice

I have been speaking to my wife today and we're ot going to change his diet at all till we see the doctor. We don't want to mess with it as he's a great wee eater and we would hate to put him off his food. Everything he's eaten today though has made me feel guilty about letting him eat it. It's a horrible feeling.

 

[scottduffy]

Skin break outs sound more like a reaction to washing powder, soaps, household cleaners etc. I'd be looking at those first before food.

Unless an NHS test has been done or one that is done by a proper doctor the results are complete nonsense. Most of the allergy tests are just bunk. There is some evidence to suggest that the quality of gut bacteria makes a difference and that use of anti-biotics in young children upsets this so they appear 'allergic' to all sorts of things. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28887088

This is what we hoped or thought it might be but he's clear of all of these according to the results. If of course they're correct.

 

[scottduffy]

I feel your pain, from a very young age my son had multiple food allergies,
That included wheat dairy and everything containing anything "artificial (E numbers.etc)
We did however find that Goat products had a lesser effect and he could drink small amounts
of goats milk (occasionally) we also make pancakes (occasionally) from buckwheat and water,
They tasted like crap quite frankly but he was happy to have that little treat.

After years of struggling with the NHS
(The main issue here was, they, that is the GP and local hospital refused to accept diet affects behaviour)
we finally got to see a dietician,
at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London (I know this is not an option due to your location)
They were very good, with their advice, helpful menu's that we hadn't thought of etc.
He had regular blood tests.
His IgE readings were way off the scale,
I don't know how much you have researched this, but,

An immunoglobulin E (IgE) test measures the blood level of IgE,
one of the five subclasses of antibodies.
Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system that attack antigens, such as bacteria, viruses, and allergens.

IgE antibodies are found in the lungs, skin, and mucous membranes.
They are associated mainly with allergic reactions
(when the immune system overreacts to environmental antigens such as pollen or pet dander)
and parasitic infections.

It is believed that his immune system was compromised at a very early age
by the MMR jabs. ( but that's a whole new and emotive subject)

The only hope that I can really offer you,
is that we were told that he would actually grow out of it,
by the specialists at C&W.

In fact he did, start to, when he reach about 16 years old.
He continued to "improve" and ate more and more of his banned foods.
He is now mid 20's, and occasionally, he is still slightly affected,
But know's when this happens and "lay's off" that food item.

An overdoes of one "safe" food type also had a detrimental effect,
eg apples were "safe"
One day we were out and he was getting very hungry,
obviously trying to keep a growing lad fed with a balanced diet was a nightmare.

He ate 4 apples, straight off the bat.
The next time he ate an apple, a few days later, he had an allergic reaction,
the normal signs were puffy red cheeks, then glazed eyes and ultimately "bouncing off the wall"

After cutting apples out of his diet for a couple (IIRC) of weeks
he was then back to OK with them, as long as it was no more than 3 a week.

I hope you find a solution

God that sounds terrible for him. We were told if it was baby eczema he would grow out of it but again they don't know what it is so they can't tell us anything for sure. I really hate pushing doctors as they obviously know more about medical conditions than me but i can't just let it go on forever. I will speak to my doctor and see what he says then take it from there.

Thanks again folks.

 

[JonathanRyan]

I know a bunch of people whose lives have been transformed by eliminating various foods from their diets. Although I'm personally a little skeptical about these miracle cures it seems that for many people they do work. My unscientific guess is that humans don't actually digest wheat or milk particularly well. So for most people, eliminating those things from their diet will make them feel a little better. Do a "test", find you have a sensitivity to something o other, eliminate that and hey presto you feel better. Throw in a touch of placebo effect and I honestly think it works for most people. And of course, most people are on a spectrum from very mild to very severe so it works better for some than others.

However, I'm, um, mildly surprised that your doctor suggested you go to one of these hair quakery clinics. Did they explain what "tests" they actually ran on the hair? Apparently one of the more common options is to swing a pendulum over it and see which foods it tells them to avoid. Any fans of Derren Brown will know how he loves a good pendulum. The NHS's actual advice on tests like this is

Many alternative testing kits are expensive, the scientific principles they are alleged to be based on are unproven and independent reviews have found them to be unreliable. Therefore, they should be avoided.

You can read that in context here - http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/food-allergy/Pages/diagnosis.aspx - there's also some good information on what useful tests they think can be done.

 

[Cobra]

God that sounds terrible for him. We were told if it was baby eczema he would grow out of it but again they don't know what it is so they can't tell us anything for sure. I really hate pushing doctors as they obviously know more about medical conditions than me but i can't just let it go on forever. I will speak to my doctor and see what he says then take it from there.
Thanks again folks.

It was, but "we" got through it,
And I'm sure you will too

And as per my post, make a nuisance of yourselves, keep pushing them
They need to do proper blood tests.

One other thing I missed from your opening post,
if its is dust mites, you can get the house treated.
BUT get a professional in, don't use over the counter stuff.
TBH I found (As a pestie of some years)
That either steam cleaning the carpets fabric furniture mattresses etc.
and curtains or even just a mist (from a sprayer) of plain water
will greatly reduce their numbers.

If you decide to try this, you need to make sure that the pestie uses one of the natural
pesticides that aren't going to irritate him more.

 

[menthel]

I might have a word with my own GP if they refuse to refer him. It just seems a bit like i'm telling them their job and they're the ones who studied and learned their "trade" so they don't really take you seriously.

Its my trade too but I would not stick up for someone like that who referred you to pay good money to a Quack...

I know a bunch of people whose lives have been transformed by eliminating various foods from their diets. Although I'm personally a little skeptical about these miracle cures it seems that for many people they do work. My unscientific guess is that humans don't actually digest wheat or milk particularly well. So for most people, eliminating those things from their diet will make them feel a little better. Do a "test", find you have a sensitivity to something o other, eliminate that and hey presto you feel better. Throw in a touch of placebo effect and I honestly think it works for most people. And of course, most people are on a spectrum from very mild to very severe so it works better for some than others.

However, I'm, um, mildly surprised that your doctor suggested you go to one of these hair quakery clinics. Did they explain what "tests" they actually ran on the hair? Apparently one of the more common options is to swing a pendulum over it and see which foods it tells them to avoid. Any fans of Derren Brown will know how he loves a good pendulum. The NHS's actual advice on tests like this is



You can read that in context here - http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/food-allergy/Pages/diagnosis.aspx - there's also some good information on what useful tests they think can be done.

Gluten and lactose are two well documented "intolerances" that have a medical base. Coeliac disease is a condition where the immune system gets a little confused and thinks that gluten (part of it anyway) is unfriendly and it mounts a defence- the defence leads to nasty symptoms. Lactose isn't tolerated because a certain proportion of the population don't have the enzymes to break it down.

Its interesting that these two things only became part of our diet more recently in evolutionary terms so that may have some part to play.

Other intolerances usually have no real basis in science. Many people will claim to be "intolerant" but its usually just not the case.

 

[Alastair]

Hi Folks,

A bit of background. These tests were not ordered by our doctor as when we went to see him to ask him to test Evan after numerous breakouts of his skin he said the NHS don't do allergy testing due to cost but if we gave him an idea of what Evan was allergic to he would then order the specific test. We had no idea what he could be allergic to so kept a diary for a while but there seemed no rhyme or reason to the skin breakouts. The doctor then told us we could have him tested privately and gave us the number of a clinic in Glasgow where we went and they cut quite a bit of Evan's hair right at the hair line near his neck then 7 weeks later they called me in and presented me with the results above. I called to make an appointment with his GP to discuss the results but as usual they're busy so we can't see him till 22nd December. I was just looking to act on the results so that when i went to see the doctor i could say whether we believe cutting back on the items above has made any difference.

The guy who gave me the results told me that Evan's body is obviously still developing so he does need dairy so i had to cut back on it by roughly 50% and replace oranges in his diet with tomatoes.

Evan has a really healthy diet or so we thought with Bran Flakes, Porridge, loads of fruit and veg and smoothie with breakfast but maybe this has not been helping him IF these results are correct.

Thanks for all the food suggestions. I was making a list last night so have some idea of what's not great and what we could maybe introduce.

Alastair - In our house Coke and Irn Bru are called beer. Since i don't drink Evan has no idea what beer is and i've called my juice beer from the get go and he knows not to ask for it since kids don't drink beer !!!

The hair test thing is a load of bunkum, you've been had by a charlatan as a hair sample can give no meaningful result for dietary intolerances and allergies. Don't base your actions on this.

Until you get a proper diagnosis be very careful about changing anything in his diet as you could prejudice meaningful results from proper testing.

Not something that affects me with my Coeliac disease (btw ,for those unfamiliar it's not an intolerance, it's an auto-immune condition) but when you mention skin breakouts I'm immediately thinking dermatitis herpetiformis which is a skin condition associated with coeliac. The one thing you must never do with suspected coeliac or dermatitis herpetiformis is to cut out the gluten - there is no test that can detect the condition unless he's consuming gluten. I have some lot of sympathy for GPs, they're the front line of the health service and expected to know everything and detect any condition that a human can develop or contract, often you'll be the first person they ever see with a condition.

There is an antibody blood test for Coeliac, in an adult it's not accepted as a diagnosis on its own (a gastroscopy with biopsy is needed - not pleasant but not painful) but in children they will often take the blood result in combination with symptoms and not insist on the procedure to confirm damage to the upper intestine.

Go to your GP and request the following:

• referral to a paediatric dietician
• referral to a gastroenterologist

Push your GP for both of these things. If you don't push you won't get - GPs do not know everything. If he won't give the referrals ask for a second opinion from one of his colleagues.

 

[ghoti]

As menthel ably points out, coeliac disease (gluten intolerance) is not really about an inability to digest gluten, it's about the body initiating an inflammatory immunological response to gluten. This is a real thing. Most other "intolerances" lack empirical support.

Due to the extremely common nature of vague or broad abdominal symptoms, many people manage to convince themselves they're intolerant to something or other. The symptoms may be real but often the perceived link to specific foods is psychological. They become selectively attentive to symptoms when they have eaten the foods they perceive as problematic and they become unconsciously inattentive or dismissive of the same vague symptoms when they're not eating those foods.