The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Elimination Diet is a nutritional approach to uncovering the causes of unexplained illnesses. Under medical supervision, you can use the diet to discover what foods, additives and preservatives trigger individual disease symptoms, says the Sydney South West Area Health Service in Australia.
History
Dr. R.L. Clancy, an immunologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia, developed the diet in 1977. Dr. Clancy postulated that patients with recurrent idiopathic urticaria and angioedema, diseases that cause welts and swelling, could benefit from the elimination of certain natural and artificial foods and preservatives from their diets. He combined elements of other elimination diets to create the RPAH program. He conducted clinical trials at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Clinic.
Significance
Your doctor can instruct a medical lab to screen your blood for food allergens via an immunoglobulin E test, according to MayoClinic.com. But these tests are not always accurate. Therefore, your doctor might also want to use the RPAH Elimination Diet to find hidden food allergens.
Methodology
You first visit your doctor to determine if your symptoms are caused by a disease. When your doctor dismisses serious illness as the cause, you will then follow the RPAH Elimination Diet under the care of your doctor or a registered dietitian. You eat a strict chemical-free diet until your symptoms disappear. Finally, you take a serious of "challenge tests" to determine which chemicals in your diet cause negative reactions.
Allowed Foods
The RPAH Elimination Diet's list of allowable foods is extensive, according to Queensland Health. Allowable foods are those that do not cause adverse reactions in food-sensitive people, according to Queensland Health. Among those foods are plain breads, noodles and pastas; canned, fresh and frozen fruits; homemade ice cream; and fresh or frozen chicken, beef and turkey. You can also consume rice or soy milk, caramel popcorn, butter and white chocolate.
Forbidden Foods
The RPAH Elimination Diet does not permit consumption of natural foods or foods prepared with known allergy-causing preservatives and chemicals until your symptoms cease and you are ready to begin the challenge tests, says Queensland Health. Forbidden RPAH Elimination Diet foods include instant pudding, luncheon meats, sausage, flavored yogurt and tomatoes. Mushrooms, pickled vegetables, jasmine-flavored rice, chocolate, canned fish, aged meats, teas, strong coffees and almonds are also not allowed on the diet, says Queensland Health.
References
- Queensland Health: The Easy Elimination Diet by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit
- Sydney South West Area Health Service: The Simplified Elimination Diet Booklet Introduction--RPAH
- Queensland Health: Details of the Easy Elimination Diet by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit
- Sydney South West Area Health Service: The Role of Natural Salicylates in Food Intolerance
- Mayo Clinic: Food Allergy: Tests and Diagnosis
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