Omschrijving
Soy is one of the top allergens. In the 1980s, Stuart Berger, MD, labeled soy one of the seven top allergens -- one of the "sinister seven." At the time, most experts listed soy around tenth or eleventh. Bad enough, but way behind peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, shellfish, fin fish and wheat. Today soy is widely accepted as one of "the big eight" that cause immediate hypersensitivity reactions. Food allergies are abnormal inflammatory responses of the immune system to dust, pollen, a food or some other substance. Those that involve an antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE) occur immediately or within an hour. Reactions may include coughing, sneezing, runny nose, hives, diarrhea, facial swelling, shortness of breath, a swollen tongue, difficulty swallowing, lowered blood pressure, excessive perspiration, fainting, anaphylactic shock or even death. Delayed allergic responses to soy are less dramatic, but are even more common. These are caused by antibodies known as immunoglobulins A, G or M (IgA, IgG or IgM) and occur anywhere from two hours to days after the food is eaten. These have been linked to sleep disturbances, bedwetting, sinus and ear infections, crankiness, joint pain, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal woes and other mysterious symptoms. Food "intolerances", "sensitivities" and "idiosyncrasies" to soy are commonly called "food allergies", but differ from true allergies in that they are not caused by immune system reactions but by little-understood or unknown metabolic mechanisms. Strictly speaking, gas and bloating, common reactions to soy and other beans are not true allergic responses. However, they might serve as warnings of the possibility of a larger clinical picture involving allergen-related gastrointestinal damage.
