Product Description

From reviews of the hardback edition: '...explains the difference between food intolerance (which we can all suffer from) and food allergy (which is very rare). Throughout, there are case studies of people who have been badly affected by their diet, until the cause was identified. All the advice given in this book has been medically or scientifically substantiated.' Greenock Telegraph '...an excellent and well-written guide ... beautifully argued and solidly evidence-based ... illustrated throughout with case reports that add the spice of human interest ... a worthy addition to the kitchen cookbook shelf.' Times Higher Very few people are allergic to food, but most of us suffer adverse effects when we eat certain things. The reason is that our body is intolerant of particular chemicals, and it reacts to them as if we were being poisoned. We then experience a variety of symptoms such as stomach ache, headache, sweating, skin rashes, diarrhoea, palpitations, and vomiting. When several of these affect us at one time they are likely to indicate that we are suffering from food intolerance and this is what the book is all about. If we can identify which components of our diet are likely to cause intolerance, then we can make sure we don't take in too much at one meal and so provoke the body to react. Human metabolism has developed to cope with small amounts of all kinds of non- nutrients in our food, even some that are highly toxic. What it cannot cope with are large amounts, and for sensitive people even relatively small amounts can trigger the body to over-react. This is why the same meal can affect people in different ways. There are only a few common chemicals that can provoke an intolerance reaction: alcohol, benzoates, caffeine, dopamine, histamine, monosodium glutamate, nitrate/nitrite, phenylethylamine, salicylates, serotonin, solanine, sorbates, tryptamine/octopamine, and tyramine. The book examines the principal causes of food intolerance, explaining how this differs from food allergy, which few suffer from, and identifies the chemicals that cause it--many of which are natural--and the foods that contain them. It also reveals why food intolerance occurs, what its symptoms are, and why some people are so badly affected by a particular non- nutrient, while others suffer no upset at all. The book also contains chapters on natural toxins, and unnatural food additives and food contaminants. It explains the key nutrients in our diet and highlights the foods richest in the essential one that we may be lacking. Most of the chapters are devoted to a few key non-nutrients that account for the majority of cases of intolerance. Each section is illustrated with actual case notes from people who have been badly affected by their diet. The book ends on an upbeat note with a final chapter giving dietary advice for maintaining a healthy heart. If you've ever wondered why something you eat does not agree with you, then this is the book that will help you discover what this is likely to be, and why your system reacts so badly to it. Written in an easy-to-understand style, Was It Something You Ate? will take you though all aspects of food, especially identifying those non-nutrients that provoke a toxic response and make us ill.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29655 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 190 pages

About the Author
Emsley: Science Writer in Residence, Chemistry Department, Cambridge University. Winner of Rhône-Poulenc Science Book Prize (1995) for The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide. Fell: General Practitioner, Oxfordshire; Director of Oxford Allergy Centre.

Customer Reviews

Food intolerant ? You need this book.
At last - information on how, naturally occurring, food chemicals can make you ill. The food chemicals covered include amines, salicylates, caffeine, sulfur, MSG and lectins. If you are convinced that food is in some way making you ill but allergy tests and traditional elimination diets have shown up nothing then this is the book for you.

You'll discover how even the 'healthiest' of foods such as fruit and vegetables can be toxic to some people. You'll also find out about natural toxins including, among many others, mad honey disease, mushroom and mold toxins. There are also sections on food additives and advice on vitamins. And chapters on alcohol and on the important role the gut has to play.

I myself am salicylate sensitive and there is so little information generally available that I wholly applaud John Emsley and Peter Fell for making this information available.

The only down side is that, although they present details of food chemicals and very useful case histories to illustrate the type of health problems that can be caused by these, they don't give much guidance on how to test for a sensitivity to these chemicals. But still, an excellent starting place.

The book is clearly written and easy to read. An absolute must for anyone concerned about food chemicals.

Good guide to healthy and not-so-healthy things we eat
This book is not just a book on allergies, as it also deals with intolerances and the substances that cause them. Written in a slightly more in-depth but still understandable style. I will keep this book at hand for look-ups relating to vitamins, minerals and food items that cause problems!

Informative and concise
clearly laid out in chapters with case studies explaining individual situation; there is also a few reference tables in the appendixes which you can always look back on; easy to remember certain facts as the english is understandable to the layperson