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NUTRITION FOR ALLERGY CONTROL: CALCIUM AND IRON
Aside from the special need for calcium created by vitamin С supplements, calcium is of special concern for people with milk allergies or lactose intolerance.
'We see low calcium levels across the board in people on allergy-restricted diets, in all age groups,' says Lyn Dart of her work with food allergy patients.
Nondairy foods do contain reasonable amounts of calcium. The thing is you'd have to eat 3 lb of broccoli, or IV4 lb of almonds - or comparable quantities of similar foods - to meet the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for calcium of 800 milligrams.
'So we rely on supplements of calcium gluconate or other calcium complexes if an individual can tolerate that,' says Ms Dart.
'Iron is the next nutrient deficiency that shows up frequently in people (especially women) on Rotary Diets or other food allergy diets,' Ms Dart continued. 'It's difficult enough for them to meet the daily requirement of 18 milligrams. Even on an unrestricted diet, a woman has to be very careful to meet the daily quota. With food allergies, women have to try extra hard. In fact, it's almost impossible.
'So we have to supplement with iron, in the form of fumarate, citrate, gluconate or sulphate,' she told us. 'But I don't like to give iron alone. I recommend a combination of iron, vitamin C, vitamins Вб and B12, folic acid and manganese (often marked "hematinic" iron on the label).
'Selenium is another nutrient that many of our allergic patients are low in,' Ms Dart told us. T think that's because the immune systems in these people are highly taxed, so the nutrients that are depleted are those that are hard at work in the immune system - selenium and vitamin С
Ms Dart also mentioned that vitamins А, С and Вб, thiamine, and niacin seem to run consistently low in allergic people.
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ALLERGIES
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