| Howard McCollister 2006-08-04, 8:24 am |
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"jmc" <NOnewsgroupsSPAM@NOjodiBODY.HOMEus> wrote in message
news:4jgb55F7r9elU1@individual.net...
> I was wondering. Here in Australia, there's a lot on the news about how
> additives can cause problems - kids with ADD symptoms, for instance, have
> been cured by removing certain food additives from their diets. There's a
> lot of talk about a flavor enhancer called "635" that's supposed to cause
> symptoms.
>
> What I'm asking is, have you ever heard of additives causing reflux? Seems
> if they can cause behavior changes and skin problems (among other things),
> they could cause digestive issues as well.
>
> I'm having some problem sorting out all my triggers, is why I ask. Perhaps
> it's some additive that's causing some of my symptoms...
A substantial contributer to reflux is transient inappropriate lower
esophageal sphincter relaxation. That's an LES that has a generally normal
resting pressure but will relax inappropriately in response to certain
triggers. Those triggers include full stomach, nicotine, caffiene and
alcohol, but also include certain foods and spices....tomato-based foods in
particular seem to be problematic. It's not much of a stretch to believe
that certain food additives could do the same thing. One of the things that
is conceptually attractive about the Stretta is its ablation of afferent
nerve fibers to the LES that mediate that relaxation.
As to food additives causing ADD and various other afflictions - I
personally am skeptical. Too much of that kind of thing is being shrilly
promoted by various medical-conspiracy theorists, a substantial number of
whom have taken up residence on sci.med, for me to be able to take the
concept at face value.
HMc
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