My sister came to visit with her family. We had a great time celebrating our birthday together. Her daughter has a pretty bad case of red spots on her forehead which looks like it could be food related. My sister wanted to know what’s the cause of this irritation on her daughter’s forehead. So off we went to my office to do some Nutrition Response Testing.
Skin rashes and outbreaks can be a symptom of food allergies or sensitivities, but can also be a sign of potential digestive issues including candida or leaky gut. With these, the allergies can continually change even though symptoms may improve temporarily. I had this issue 16 years ago! My food allergies just kept changing every year, which meant I had to keep looking for the cause. It did turn out to be candida and leaky gut! Another blog I am sure.
My first thought was the red spots were a result of wheat and gluten. Wheat was the cause with another niece several years ago. She had bumps on her forehead but not red bumps. The Nutrition Response Testing identified sugar as the cause of these red spots. Sugar cane, sugar in the raw and brown sugar. But honey and fruit sugars were okay.
So what does this mean to a 13 yo? Probably the end of the world! Many times, elimination for 2 weeks minimum helps. But best is to eliminate the food causing the issue for 2 or more months. Then you can reintroduce the food item and wait 72 hours to see if there is a reaction. If there is, you must continue the elimination for another month and retest. At that point, waiting another month is not a big deal as you have already avoided it for 2 months.
If no reaction has been noticed within 72 hours after reintroducing the suspect food, then you may reintroduce it once every 4 days. But it may not be something you want to eat every day.
In this case, as is the routine with food sensitivities causing symptoms, I tested for digestive enzymes which would help the body break down the sugar in this case, so the reaction could be minimized. When she eats more sugar, she will need to take more enzymes than the daily dosage for 2-4 days to aid in this breakdown of sugar ingested. Elimination and avoidance is still part of the program, not just adding digestive enzymes. You need to eliminate the cause and allow the reaction to subside.
What alternatives are there to sugar? Honey, real maple syrup and for some, stevia or sugar alcohols like erythritol. I personally just use honey, maple syrup and dates, even in baking.
Sugar can be inflammatory, as is wheat for many people. You want to know what is the cause? Nutrition Response Testing can be the fastest way to find an answer. And it takes about 20 minutes. No blood work or fasting either. It will stop the guessing and find the cause quickly.
To schedule your Nutrition Response Testing session now, click here.