Question:
I had a query from a client regarding her husband’s ImuPro results. Her husband came up with a hypersensitivity to tannins, and then she said she had been reading up on tannins and found that tannins were also in things like cashews, apple juice and apple cider, grape juice and grapes, most berries, grapefruit, kiwi etc – she said she found this on the internet. I am not sure if they do in fact have tannins, if you would know? And also then she was querying if those foods did have tannins, why the ImuPro results said cashews, apples, grapes etc were fine for her husband to eat?
Answer:
The Tannin used in our test is synthetic tannic acid. The word tannin regroups a large group of substances and is not uniform from one food or plant to another. As tannins have reduced water solubility, the amount of tannins in our food extracts are not high, also its amount varies with the ripeness of the fruit. So you can’t refer or correlate reaction to tannin to the proper reaction of a tannin containing food. Sensitisation to tannic acid is more likely due to exposure to added tannic acid in either drugs, creams or transformed food. The advice might be to reduce tannic rich food. The risk for adverse reaction in this patient is probably more to added tannic acids in some food products rather than in naturally complex tannin containing foods.
Question:
On the intolerance profile it indicated that I had a type III reaction almonds and cayenne Pepper, amongst several other intolerances. Could you confirm whether I also have to avoid body care products that also contain these ingredients (as absorbed by the skin) – for example tissue oil that contains sweet almond oil and a natural muscle rub that contains cayenne pepper. I would also assume that a colon cleanser supplement (tablets) that contains cayenne pepper would also not be allowed. In other words: Should products containing specific extracts of something one was hypersensitive to in the ImuPro test be avoided too e.g. a massage oil containing almond oil when they came up to almonds? Or are these chemically produced flavours generally in products like body creams and oils (as is vanillin)?
Answer:
Yes, also cosmetics containing extracts of positively reacted foods in ImuPro have to be avoided. The skin is also a very reactive immune organ. And the experience showed us that products on the skin or even inhaled antigens like lavender have led to symptoms. Also from my experience in environmental medicine, I know that if someone reacts to Titanium oxide, he has to eliminate all cosmetics and tooth paste containing TiO2.
(All answers are by Dr. Camille Lieners, Scientific Advisor ImuPro)