 Allergies [36]
Allergy is a disorder of the immune system often also referred to as atopy.
Antidepressants [36]
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia.
Arthritis [5]
Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body.
Cancer [23]
Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth
Cardio & Blood [1]
Risk factors for heart disease: infections
Cholesterol [1]
A fat-like substance called a lipid. It is used to build cell membranes, hormones and bile acids
Diabetes [27]
The inability of the body to produce, or the inability to metabolize, the human hormone insulin; Diabetes insipidus, usually a disorder of the ...
Epilepsy [2]
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures
Gastrointestinal [1]
The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food...
General Health [108]
The infant, child or young person?s current health condition
Herbal [36]
Herbal tea, herbal medicine
Hormonal [25]
Hormones - Proteins produced by organs of the body that trigger activity in other locations.
Men's Health [1]
For men on fitness, health, sex, caree
Pain relief [36]
Pain management is the medical discipline concerned with the relief of pain.
Skin care [36]
The skin is the outer covering of the body
Weight Loss [36]
Loss of body weight by dieting or due to various easting disorders or medical conditions.
Women's Health [34]
Find information on women's health issues, and lifestyle at the Women's Health
Fresh material  How is endometriosis diagnosed: ca-125
→ More
Hormonal treatments for endometriosis: gnrh agonists
→ More
How is endometriosis diagnosed: what is a repeat laparoscopy
→ More
Solutions to infertility: giving up smoking
→ More
Who should not have a laparoscopy?
→ More
The most popular materials [2793 view]
Hormonal drugs to treat endometriosis: primolut n → More
[2420 view]
How is endometriosis diagnosed: what do i need to discuss before i have my laparoscopy → More
[2248 view]
How is endometriosis diagnosed: ca-125 → More
[1926 view]
lynsey bartilson nude → More
[1782 view]
Hormonal treatments for endometriosis: gnrh agonists → More
Awaiting moderation 11505 Article |
Other forms of food allergy: inflammation OTHER FORMS OF FOOD ALLERGY: INFLAMMATION
How immune complexes affect the blood vessels depends very much on what sort of antibodies they contain - there are five different isotypes. In the healthy person, the main antibody formed to food is immunoglobulin A, or IgA, which has special protective properties. Unlike most other antibodies it does not activate the defensive proteins in the blood known as the complement system.
The products of the complement system cause inflammation, a reaction designed to mobilize the body's protective forces. The effects of inflammation are to make the blood vessels in the vicinity more leaky and to attract other immune cells into the area - the leaky vessels make it easier for the immune cells to gain access to the surrounding tissues. What appears on the outside as a swollen, red, tender area is in fact a microscopic battleground, where the body's own cells and tissues are unfortunate casualties of the general mayhem.
The purpose of inflammation, in the healthy individual, is to fight off infection. The body assumes that the antibodies have attached themselves to an invading bacterium or virus and sends in the troops. Obviously the body needs to have control systems that tell it not to react when the antibodies are bound to something innocuous - such as a food protein which happens to have wandered into the blood through the gut wall. This is the function of IgA. Because it does not activate the complement system it can quietly mop up non-harmful antigens for disposal by the phagocytes, without setting off a damaging episode of inflammation.
For this system to work, the body must somehow distinguish food from other sorts of antigen. And it must make sure that IgA - rather than IgG, another more inflammatory type of antibody - is manufactured to fit the food molecules. The details of how the body does this are still far from clear, but a general picture is emerging from current research, and this is described in Chapter Twelve. The process is known as 'the induction of oral tolerance'.
What, if anything, goes wrong with this system? There is only a limited amount of evidence available, but it does seem that the system for producing IgA rather than IgG to food molecules breaks down in some people. Where this occurs, the immune complexes circulating in the blood after a meal will be potentially inflammatory. If they are deposited in a blood vessel, damage to the walls of the vessel will follow.
Such people may also have IgE in their food-molecule immune complexes, so mast cells could be triggered to add to the inflammation. Whether this actually happens is not clear. But if it does then there are important implications for the way we think about allergies: the dividing line between Type I (IgE) food allergy and Type III food allergy may not be as sharp as is often assumed.
*84\180\8*
Allergies
«Levitra Online»
 Print
Viewed: 322
| Keywords for this page: Other forms of food allergy: inflammation |
|
|
