Salicylate is very familiar to us – it is the chemical in Aspirin. It was first found in the bark of Willow trees and herbalists have used preparations from Willow bark for thousands of years. Usually this was in the form of a tea and Willow bark tea is still used for pain relief and for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Of course an artificial version of this natural chemical was attractive to the pharmaceutical industry and Aspirin is the result. It is a similar molecule to those found in nature and since it is artificial can be trademarked.
Salicylate is produced by many plants, fruit and trees – its not just Willow trees that make it. It seems that almost all fruit and vegetables produce some level of Salicylate to protect them from pests. After all plants can’t run away from insects or swat them so they have to have a chemical defence system to protect them.
Salicylate Allergy?
It’s natural when reacting to a food with a headache or hives to assume that we are suffering from an allergic reaction but Salicylate has a chemical reaction with the body and not an immune reaction. Salicylate is not a protein and does not produce classically defined allergic reactions. The headache, hives or stomach pains that we may feel are a true intolerance or sensitivity and not an allergy.
Salicylate Avoidance
As already said, Salicylates are pretty much everywhere so the best we can do is follow a low Salicylate diet. This is also called a Feingold diet after Ben Feingold an American Allergist and Paediatrician. Dr. Feingold noticed patients started healing from many different disorders when following a low Salicylate diet. Working at a hospital called Kaiser-Permanente used a diet modelled on a diet used at the Mayo Clinic which he called the K-P diet. The media and his patients started calling it the Feingold diet and that’s what it is still called.
The Feingold diet has changed over the years. As the doctors using it learn more, especially about food additives and colourings the diet advice alters to take account of new facts.
Many kids respond well to it and their ADD and similar disorders reduce or vanish. So although in some circles the Feingold diet is controversial it seems to have plenty of back and has stood the test of time.
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