Is secret a food intolerance harming your brain?

EVER noticed that some foods just don’t agree with you? Whether it’s bread or sweet treats, you may notice niggling pains, an energy crash or foggy brain every time you eat them.

However, you’ll probably also notice it’s these foods that are the hardest to resist, and you may find yourself craving them. If so — and yes, it sounds contrary, but I’ll explain why below — you may be intolerant to them.

You’ll soon know if you have an allergy to a certain food as you’ll suffer a rash or illness, but intolerance is more subtle.

There might not be any noticeable reaction for hours, even days, so it can be difficult to make the connection.

But if you ever find yourself dreaming of chocolate or buttery scrambled eggs, or if you’ve gone out of your way to find a certain sandwich filling or ready meal and feel slightly out of control when you’re eating it, this could be a sign of a food intolerance.

Food intolerances are caused by a physical reaction to the protein in a trigger food. This might be due to an inherited allergy or to the fact that your body is struggling to break down and digest this protein.

For instance, milk intolerance may be the result of insufficient levels of the enzyme lactase, needed to break down the proteins in dairy products.

Perfect brain function depends on good digestion and absorption of essential nutrients, but if anything disturbs the digestive process your brain will suffer.

Your ability to flourish and maintain stable moods, to enjoy learning and excellent recall are all compromised if your brain is battling to cope with a substance that is causing it distress. Your brain needs the right proteins and fats, as well as specific nutrients, to enable it to grow new connections.

These nutrients are delivered as fuel via a diet rich in the right foods, but which also avoids the foods that could be causing digestive distress.

It should come as no surprise to you that your brain and your gut are intricately connected.

We know that a lot of what goes on in the gut influences the brain directly because some brain chemicals, such as the happiness hormone seratonin, are produced in the gut as we eat.

If your gut can’t make enough serotonin because it’s eaten something it’s struggling to digest, your brain will suffer a crash.

You then will crave more of the very food that’s causing the problem, as your brain believes you haven’t eaten enough to produce the level of serotonin your brain needs to keep ticking over. It’s a vicious cycle. A food intolerance of this kind could be seriously affecting your brain’s ability to function effectively.

Though I trained in psychology, I switched to the field of nutritional neuroscience when I discovered how hard it was to talk a starving brain better.

Now I’ve written a book based on two decades of research into how we can nourish our neurons at the very deepest cellular level.

Yesterday, I highlighted the importance of essential fatty acids in protecting you from the ravages of dementia.

Today, we unpick the insidious consequences for your brain of food intolerances you might not even know you have. Change your diet as I detail in today’s special pullout and you will notice the impact within just 24 hours.

WHY ARE WE FOOD INTOLERANT?

THE trouble with food intolerance or sensitivity (as distinct from food allergy) is the fact that it can take anywhere from an hour to up to three days for any reaction to appear.

Without an immediate response, it is difficult for us to pinpoint a specific trigger, but any compound that irritates the brain or stops it from operating efficiently will eventually lead to neurological challenges.

It may take time, sometimes decades, but the damage could be happening, slowly but surely.

If you’ve been eating the wrong foods since childhood, brain impairment, fatigue or grumpiness may have become your ‘normal’. Your brain may have always felt sluggish, unable to sustain a good mood or to focus effectively.

Common causes include today’s reliance on junk food. Some people are simply unable to tolerate the vast quantity of unnatural chemicals in processed foods.

But by cutting back on junk and switching to a more natural diet, you can immediately reduce your toxic load and allow your brain to naturally start functioning more efficiently, leading to more stable moods and clearer thinking.

If you have taken a lot of antibiotics recently, your digestive tract may have become crowded with bad bacteria and lost too many good bacteria, which can impair effective digestion and lead to intolerant reactions.

If the lining of your digestive tract is allowed to become ‘leaky’ (when its walls are compromised), it can allow particles of food to cross into the bloodstream, triggering an intolerant response.

Insufficient stomach acid might also be to blame.

It is important to recognise that you may — without realising — be regularly eating a food, even something natural and ‘healthy’, that you are intolerant to.

Stress and ageing all influence the body’s ability to produce enough digestive enzymes to digest food.

If your food isn’t digested properly, your body may struggle to recognise the strange, undigested food particle and, therefore, mount an attack.

THE BIGGEST BRAIN SABOTEURS

THE foods most likely to trigger intolerance and, therefore, impair your concentration, focus and

memory, are some of the most common, such as wheat, rye and barley (as flour, cakes, biscuits and cereals), oats, dairy (milk, butter, yoghurt and cheese), chocolate, corn, eggs, fish (including shellfish), berries, legumes (beans, peas, peanuts), nuts, pork, peaches, oranges, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and aubergines.

Gluten is a common problem because it is a tough and resilient protein and difficult to digest.

It can also seem ‘addictive’. This is because when broken down in the digestive tract, gluten contains compounds with a mild opiate effect.

But be warned, if you are gluten sensitive, it can trigger damage to the blood vessels in the brain, which can lead to depression, mood disorders and irritability.

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE?

DaIry products such as cheese and chocolate are a common source of hidden intolerance, but they can also be extremely addictive.

There’s a chemical (called phenylethylamine) found in high levels in chocolate, several cheeses and red wine.

It is sometimes referred to as the body’s natural amphetamine because it is a natural stimulant and mood enhancer, and harbours similar compounds to the active ingredient in marijuana.

It can produce intense headaches, dizziness, insomnia and confusion. Its presence in chocolate has led people to call it ‘the food of love’.

Cheese also contains trace amounts of a chemical called casomorphin, which can have a similar action to morphine (reaching its peak 40 minutes after ingestion).

But combine these addictive qualities with the fact that many people are unknowingly intolerant to the lactose in milk and you have a perfect storm — over-consumption of a food that could be impairing the function of your brain.

ACTION PLAN TO GET YOU BACK ON TRACK

ParT of the solution to food intolerant reactions is to get the digestive system working properly again by first removing the foods that are causing the reactions and then adding the right nutrients into the diet, such as essential fats, zinc, probiotics and digestive enzymes.

Ensuring that your diet includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as clean forms of protein and unrefined carbohydrates, is critically important, too. 1 EaTInG the same foods every day can exhaust the body’s ability to digest them properly, which can increase the chances of developing intolerances. Try to make your diet as varied as possible and don’t get stuck on one favourite breakfast, lunch, fruit or snack. 2 CuT back on processed foods. Many people are unable to tolerate the vast quantity of unnatural chemicals that pervade processed foods, so when you drop them from your diet, you immediately lighten your toxic load and your brain will naturally start functioning more efficiently. 3usE

a food diary to track reactions that you may not be fully aware of. Write down what you eat every day and list any reactions as they appear. Once you decipher which foods are possibly causing you problems, you can begin to narrow down the likely offenders. 4 If yOu suspect you have a food intolerance, remove gluten (wheat, rye, barley) and dairy (milk, yoghurt, cheese) from your diet for one month and assess your moods, focus and concentration. Introduce them back into your diet separately to determine whether one or both of these foods is causing you digestive distress. 5InCrEasE the quantity of fresh, raw vegetables you consume to boost fibre intake and your digestive defence. Ensure you chew everything properly. 6 COnsIDEr taking a digestive enzyme tablet with your main meal (available for around £8 for 90 tablets from health shops) to help your gut break down food and aid digestion.

stress, inflammation and ageing all influence the body’s ability to produce enough enzymes to digest food.

supplementing with a good digestive enzyme and increasing the amount of raw or lightly steamed foods you eat will enhance your digestive processes and influence your brain’s ability to work well. 7 TakE a probiotic tablet or powder (a safe and concentrated form of beneficial gut bacteria you’ll find in the fridge at health shops) after your evening meal.

Having this with your food reduces the possibility of the good bacteria being destroyed by stomach acid, and taking it in the evening means it has all night to get to work.

Live cultured yoghurt is another natural way to get digestive enzymes and probiotics into your daily diet.