Hypoallergenic diets detect latent food allergies or intolerances that cause medical conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, heartburn and irritable bowel syndrome, according to the Hypoallergenic Diet website. While on a program administered by a medical doctor or naturopathic physician, you follow a diet mostly comprised of hypoallergenic foods, or foods that do not generally cause allergic reactions in the body, such as berries, quinoa, sunflower seeds, free-range chicken and virgin olive oil. You slowly add other foods back into your diet, all the while checking for possible reactions.
Theory
Your long-term consumption of processed, prepackaged foods may have disrupted your natural ability to detect foods that you cannot effectively digest. Therefore, the underlying cause of an illness might be a subtle, moderate or severe food allergy or sensitivity to an allergen such as wheat, shellfish, eggs, dairy products, soy, red meat or nuts. You and your doctor can use a hypoallergenic diet to eliminate foods that provoke these adverse reactions and augment your diet with foods that better match your digestive tolerance, according to HypoallergenicDiet.com.
Methodology
To follow the two-phase diet, you must attain the hypoallergenic diet guidelines, which list foods that you can and cannot eat while following the program. During phase 1, the elimination phase, you remove suspect foods and drinks from your diet. You eat as many items from the hypoallergenic diet's approved foods list as you desire. You follow phase 1 for three to six weeks or until any gastrointestinal symptoms you might experience on the diet subside.
During phase 2, the challenge phase, you reintroduce the suspect foods back into your diet one at a time. You consume two servings of a "challenge" food a day for two consecutive days, documenting any adverse reactions you have to the food for 36 hours. If no reactions are present, you move on to the next suspect food. However, if you experience allergic sensitivities after the first challenge item, you stop eating the food and wait for the symptoms to diminish before you consume another suspect food. You continue the program until you have challenged all questionable foods.
Considerations
Elimination diets are generally well tolerated by patients and can be used on any age group, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, which adds, though, that you should consult with a registered dietitian to ensure that you receive adequate nutrition during the program. However, the AAFP recommends that to avoid experiencing anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, do not eat any challenge foods that standard allergy tests, such as the IgE, previously proved to initiate adverse reactions within your body. You and your doctor should only use food challenge tests to uncover food allergies not detected by IgE test results, according to the AAFP.
Warning
Speak with your doctor about the benefits and risks of following a hypoallergenic diet before you begin the program. Your doctor might recommend that you undergo another medically supervised test or another diet modification program that better supports your individual health condition.
