Food Allergies And Weight Gain

It may surprise many to know that food allergies can cause weight gain. And allergies can do it in a couple of ways.

The first way is that food allergies often cause weight gain is that they can cause histamines in your bloodstream to increase. Histamines are the substance that cause the allergic reactions in you body. But, a little known side effect of histamines is that they make your capillaries more leaky. This means that they can make the tissues of your body more absorbable.

Specifically, they can sometimes make you retain more water. So, if after a series of food allergy attacks, you notice that you are becoming heavier, it may be because you are becoming waterlogged. The excess water that your body is retaining will naturally cause your weight to go up. Water retention can also lead to bloating. So you may notice that you have more difficulty buttoning your pants than you did before.

The second way that food allergies can cause weight gain is that allergic reactions often cause substances called prostaglandins to be released. Specifically something called prostaglandin E2 or PGE2.

The interesting thing about this compound is that it causes changes in your metabolism. In particular, it slows your metabolism down. What this means is that even though your eating habits have not changed, you may still be gaining weight.

The really bad thing about this is that the effect is progressive. That is, the more food allergy attacks that you have, the more your body becomes resistant to insulin and the easier it becomes for it to hold onto the extra weight. This is a really insidious way that a food allergy can cause weight gain.

So, if you are having weight gains due to your allergies, you can resolve the problem in one of three ways. One is to cut back on the amount of calories that you are eating. If you typically overeat, this is fine. But, if you eat pretty much normal portions of foods, then cutting back on your calories will also cut back on your nutrients so it may not be a good idea.

Secondly, you can exercise more. There is really no drawback to this solution. A secondary benefit of exercising is that, if done regularly, it will improve your body's ability to metabolize glucose. The third solution, and probably the best, is to find out what foods you are allergic to and change your diet accordingly. Once you know your food allergies, a dietitian who specializes in food allergies can help you to come up with the perfect diet plan for yourself.