Food Allergies - Overdiagnosed?

Today there was an interesting article about food allergies, and how they are overdiagnosed. The author provides an interest contrast, by providing examples of when they have been underdiagnosed (single incidents). As a person with multiple food allergies, this is interesting to read, but doesn't make me any more inclined to go back to eating things that I know cause a reaction within a few minutes....

Food Allergy Diagnosis "An Inexact Science"

A Little Mercury with Your Corn Syrup?

My grandmother sent along interesting link from elements4health.com. (Yes, my grandmother is still cooler than your grandmother.)

A quote from the article: "Just published in the Environmental Health journal is a science commentary reporting that mercury was found in 9 of 20 samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a common sweetener of foods and beverages."

Corn syrup is one of my life enemies. I mean this literally, because I am allergic to corn and because corn syrup is everywhere. I am constantly finding it in items that have no need for corn syrup (or any other sweetener). Also scary from the article mentioned above, is that it lists that a specific type of oatmeal is high in mercury, too.

The Enemy in Fast Food: Corn

It turns out that corn is in almost all fast food meals. An article that came out this week highlighted that out of hundreds of samples, only 12 were not traced back to corn. Yikes. For someone allergic to corn like me, the article is a nice reminder to avoid fast food meals.

HFCS = Pure Evil

HFCS (otherwise known as high fructose corn syrup) is one of my enemies. Not only can it be pretty bad for one's health, I also happen to be allergic to it. It does bad things to me. Messes up my digestive system within minutes, gives me hay fever-like symptoms within hours, and leaves me bloated and mentally foggy for a couple of days.

HFCS is in everything. When you have an allergy to corn derived items, you will be disheartened to find that it appears in items such as sodas, candies (even decent chocolates), and condiments. Yes, even ketchup contains HFCS. Funny enough, the hubby passed along an article on a blog that mentions how Heinz is working on developing a sweeter tomato, so that it doesn't need to use HFCS:

Catch Up Lady: Heinz to Save Me from Death by HFC