Dear all, this is my first time posting here. I was diagnosed with CC a few months ago, since then, I have been on Budesonide and I'm currently weaning off. I did an enterolab testing a few weeks ago and I was very surprised to see significant immunological reactivity to milk - I'm diary-free for the past 10 years, after I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance, and I'm vegan for more than 7 years. Maybe I don't understand the testing process right, but shouldn't there only be reactivity to things I'm actually ingesting in one way or another? Maybe someone could help me understand...
the rest of the test reads as follows:
Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 103 Units
Fecal Anti-Oat IgA 22 Units
Fecal Anti-tissue Transglutaminase IgA 26 Units
Fecal Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae (dietary yeast) IgA 8 Units
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 16 Units
Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity: Almond, White potato
Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+): Rice, Cashew, Walnut, Egg, Soy, Sesame Seed
Food to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (2+): Garbonzo Bean
Food to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (3+): Corn, Milk
Quantitative Microscopic Fecal Fat Score 1082 Units
Enterolab results: immunological reactivity to milk despite being vegan for years?
Moderators: Rosie, JFR, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Re: Enterolab results: immunological reactivity to milk despite being vegan for years?
Hi,
Welcome to the group. I'll try to explain what is probably happening with your results. Note that the medical community does not realize that food sensitivities perpetuate MC symptoms. They believe that because food sensitivities don't normally initially cause the disease in the first place, they shouldn't be a problem. But the problem is that the inflammation causes increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut), which causes food sensitivities, and those food sensitivities perpetuate the inflammation that typically causes the disease to be active for the rest of our lives. Unlike Crohn's disease and UC, periods of spontaneous remission for MC patients are extremely rare, although they do occasionally occur.
Because of that, there are no medical data to back up my opinions, consequently, this opinion is based on my observations from over 16 years of reading posts by members sharing their experiences on this forum. In other words, these are strictly my opinion, not proven medical fact. Regarding the dairy issue, please be aware that despite the fact that dairy free coffee creamers claim to be dairy free, many of them are definitely not dairy free. They contain one or more derivatives of casein. Apparently the coffee creamer industry mistakenly believes that "dairy free" simply means "lactose-free". This may be the cause of your elevated score result for casein. Another possibility is that most MC patients reacting to gluten, also react to casein. This may be because the casein molecule contains one or more amino acid sequences similar to certain amino acid sequences in the gluten (gliadin) molecule (molecular mimicry). Or, your immune system might just have an elevated sensitivity level at this point, due to all the active food sensitivities. Or cross-contamination may be occurring due to traces in some other source. Please be aware that many of us even react to cosmetic products such as skin creams, shampoos, etc., that contain gluten, casein, or soy derivatives.
I hope this helps. Again, welcome to the board, and best of luck to you on your journey back to good health.
Tex
Welcome to the group. I'll try to explain what is probably happening with your results. Note that the medical community does not realize that food sensitivities perpetuate MC symptoms. They believe that because food sensitivities don't normally initially cause the disease in the first place, they shouldn't be a problem. But the problem is that the inflammation causes increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut), which causes food sensitivities, and those food sensitivities perpetuate the inflammation that typically causes the disease to be active for the rest of our lives. Unlike Crohn's disease and UC, periods of spontaneous remission for MC patients are extremely rare, although they do occasionally occur.
Because of that, there are no medical data to back up my opinions, consequently, this opinion is based on my observations from over 16 years of reading posts by members sharing their experiences on this forum. In other words, these are strictly my opinion, not proven medical fact. Regarding the dairy issue, please be aware that despite the fact that dairy free coffee creamers claim to be dairy free, many of them are definitely not dairy free. They contain one or more derivatives of casein. Apparently the coffee creamer industry mistakenly believes that "dairy free" simply means "lactose-free". This may be the cause of your elevated score result for casein. Another possibility is that most MC patients reacting to gluten, also react to casein. This may be because the casein molecule contains one or more amino acid sequences similar to certain amino acid sequences in the gluten (gliadin) molecule (molecular mimicry). Or, your immune system might just have an elevated sensitivity level at this point, due to all the active food sensitivities. Or cross-contamination may be occurring due to traces in some other source. Please be aware that many of us even react to cosmetic products such as skin creams, shampoos, etc., that contain gluten, casein, or soy derivatives.
I hope this helps. Again, welcome to the board, and best of luck to you on your journey back to good health.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Re: Enterolab results: immunological reactivity to milk despite being vegan for years?
Thank you so much, Tex! I don't use lactose-free products, only vegan alternatives, such as coconut milk or almond milk. I got used to checking labels and making sure that what I consume has no diary and is vegan. That's why I was surprised. I wonder if some of my medication has lactose in it. I checked the labels and they don't say it - but it still might be hidden?
Thank you for the good wishes!
Thank you for the good wishes!
Re: Enterolab results: immunological reactivity to milk despite being vegan for years?
You're right — it may be hidden, because unlike food labels, pharmaceutical labels are not required to list all of the inactive ingredients. They're only required to list the active ingredients. Many of them voluntarily list all, or most of the inactive ingredients, but this is not required by law, so they're not very strict with the labeling. Also, the FDA issued a proclamation early on in the pandemic stating that due to supply chain issues for many ingredients, manufacturers are allowed to freely substitute alternative minor ingredients (as long as they're not one of the 7 officially declared allergens) without even making any label changes to declare the change. I assume this applies to pharmaceutical products also, and it definitely compromises label integrity.
Tex
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.