Today allergies are commonplace—everybody has them, including children. For some people they are a minor annoyance, but for others, they can cause great suffering, even leading to anaphylactic shock and death.
Where do allergies begin and how do they manifest in affecting our health?
One common origin of allergies is via our gut, this process starts by insufficient stomach acid production. This leads to a food not being fully digested in the stomach which then passes through to the small intestine. As a result of this the pancreas under secretes enzymes and our macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) pass through partially undigested.
This creates an immune response that is over active and can form immune responses that are over active. There are certain food compounds (gliadin from gluten for example) that cause a change in function cells in our intestine.
Allergies can easily develop because an increased permeability of the intestine allows undigested proteins into the blood stream. To your immune system, these proteins represent foreign objects. Every time you eat an offending food—even a food that is considered nutritious—an immune system response will occur.
In this setting by consuming offending foods on a continuing basis more marked immune responses can occur. This can present in a number of ways - asthma, allergies, autism and atopy (skin reactions) and if the underlying food trigger remains then the complaint continues.
In this sense sufficient stomach acid production is vital to healthy living and it is possible to recover your health. This is not done overnight but rather through commitment to long-term dietary change. Consult your health care practitioner as to ways to do this.