If your child is suffering from bloating, belching, indigestion, heartburn, abdominal pain, IBS and any other digestive complaint or brain fog and headaches but after meals, you might be wondering if there’s something they are eating that they might be intolerant to.

A good starting point would be to give them a digestive enzyme supplement that includes probiotics, just to rule out indigestion and dysbiosis. Taking this with each meal for three days should make a difference.

If it doesn’t then the next most likely contributor to their digestive problems is a food intolerance. Allergies are caused by the immune system producing antibodies that ‘attack’ certain food proteins because it considers them as aliens. The most extreme type of allergic reaction involves a type of antibody called IgE. There is a test for this, in which a drop of potential allergens are put on a pin prick on the arm, if you react you get a red wheal. This immediate reaction, within ten minutes, is an IgE reaction. IgE allergy can also be tested from a blood sample.

But many reactions against food involve a different kind of antibody called IgG. Most people call these food intolerances even though they do fit the bill for the definition of an allergic reaction. IgG reactions don’t occur immediately so it isn’t always easy to know what you react to. For this reason, it is worth having a test to find out what you may be reacting to. This can be done from a tiny amount of blood, collectable with a home test kit. The leading laboratory is called www.yorktest.com. They send you a kit, you prick your finger (it isn’t painful) and send them the blood as instructed. They then measure the presence of IgG antibodies in your blood and give you a report that tells you how strongly your immune system is reacting against which foods. (If you use this discount code, FFB10 (FFB10US in the US) they’ll give you a 10% discount and match it with a donation to help our research.)

Healing the gut

If you decide to have your child tested, the first step is to avoid those foods that they react strongly to – the ‘red’ foods. You can ‘rotate’ those foods which produce a mild reaction – the amber foods – which means eaten not more than every five days. (If you eat a reactive food every day your level of reactivity builds up.) Yorktest include a session with a nutritional therapist by phone, who can help you do it correctly.

The good news is that IgG antibody reactions often go away with strict avoidance of the food for 3 to 4 months and healing of the gut. The same is not true for IgE based reactions. We often develop food intolerances because the gut wall becomes inflamed or damaged allowing incompletely digested food proteins to enter the body and bloodstream. The gut wall is also damaged by alcohol, painkillers, too much coffee and fried foods.

Certain foods irritate the gut wall. An example is wheat, containing gliadin. This is why a lot of people are somewhat intolerant of wheat.

Fortunately, the cells that line the gut wall heal and replenish very quickly, especially when you feed them an amino acid called l-glutamine. So, supplementing l-glutamine can speed up gut healing. Some digestive enzyme supplements contain a little glutamine. If you want to heal a ‘leaky’ gut give your child 5 grams (a heaped teaspoon) of glutamine powder in cold water (hot water destroys this amino acid) last thing at night or at least half an hour before eating.

In summary, to reduce your child’s immune sensitivity to foods and restore gut health

• Identify and avoid your food intolerances
• Take digestive enzymes with each meal for two weeks afterwards
• Take probiotics daily for two weeks afterwards
• Take glutamine daily for two weeks afterwards

Some digestive supplements provide all three – digestive enzymes, probiotics and glutamine – in one.

How to Implement Change

Today’s Challenge: This article gives further details – Is food triggering brain fog, low mood & lethargy?

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Wishing you and your child the best of health and happiness,

The COGNITION for Smart Kids & Teens Team