Allergic to sea salt??

[ny biker]

I'll agree with that There are absolutely food allergies, dangerous ones, but there are definitely people who use "allergic to" instead of "don't like" or "don't want to"

There are also food intolerances -- no allergic reaction, but the GI tract has trouble digesting a certain food due to a missing enzyme or some other reason, resulting in various stomach and intestinal issues. I have this problem with tomatoes. I can generally have them in small quantities, like a few slices on a sandwich. But recently I had fair amount of stewed tomatoes with dinner on a Monday followed by tomato soup for lunch on Wednesday, and I was sick for a week.

The problem with food intolerance is that other than lactose intolerance, most people are not familiar with it so it's a pain in the a** to explain, especially in a restaurant. So it's easier to just say you're allergic, even though you might be able to eat a small quantity without problems.

[OakLeaf]

Exactly. Like the woman Lisa mentioned most likely had salt-sensitive hypertension, kidney problems, or something of the like. Maybe she knew the difference between that and an allergy and maybe she didn't, but it surely is easier to say.

Even more fun with someone like me. I have non-anaphylactoid histamine reactions to a lot of common foods. I was diagnosed as allergic by a Board-certified allergist, I test positive according to serum antibodies, systemic reaction to subcutaneous injection, AND a challenge diet. But there's some scientific dispute as to what qualifies technically as an allergy and what doesn't - some authorities contend that the type of reaction I have to foods is not a true allergy because I don't have an anaphylactic reaction (even though I have basically the exact same symptoms as the type of reaction I have to, say, ragweed pollen or alternaria spores). So there are people who are not doctors or biologists who will absolutely insist that I don't have food allergies, and want to argue with me about it.

What-ev', peeps. I don't like yeast, if that's the way someone wants to look at it. I don't like wheat or milk or corn. As long as they understand that what I don't like about all of those things is the pounding heart as soon as I eat them, the palpitations, and being congested, itchy and edematous for three or four days afterward.

[Jolt]

So, in the case of intolerances, what would be wrong with someone just saying (to use tomatoes as an example) "tomatoes give me stomach problems" or "tomatoes don't agree with me"? That gets the point across and is more accurate than calling it an allergy since they really are two completely different things.

[moonfroggy]

if someone says that a waitress may think something with few tomatoes is ok but maybe the person really can't handle any tomato at all? people except allergies and tend to take them seriously.

[Cataboo]

There's at least 4 different types of hypersentivity reactions that the immune system can have - it doesn't have to be an allergic reaction to be a hypersentivity.

It is a lot easier sometimes to claim an allergic reaction than explaining anything more... It's a lot easier to get people to respect my wishes that I don't want them to smoke around me if I say I have asthma or am allergic as opposed to just saying "I really don't deal well with cigarette smoke" 'cause for whatever reason I have a really difficult time breathing & will end up getting a chest cold if I am around smokers. of course, I've never bothered to go to the doctor to figure out why I don't deal well, so there may be an actual reason, however I've had a lot of people imply that I'm faking it or whatever.

My brother had a kidney disease for 2-3 years when we were young - he was basically on a no-salt to trace salt diet, which meant it was easier for my Mom to put us all on a low salt diet, no salt bread, no salt peanut butter, salt substitute in anything my Mom cooked. He had to test the salt levels in his urine everytime he went to the bathroom, and everything had to be logged. So there are medical conditions where you can't handle salt.

[teancum144]

The common ingredient in all three foods is sea salt. I think the pizza had more of it than the other foods, based on the amount I ate and the fact that they use sea salt to naturally cure the pepperoni.

I too react to most sea salts. Sea Salt is naturally high in nitrates/nitrites and so is pepperoni. So it could be the nitrates/nitrites. Also, sea salt can contain anti-caking agents (e.g. yellow prussiate of soda, Sodium aluminosilicate comprising sodium, aluminium, silicon and oxygen, etc.). Also, there is such a thing as artificial sea salt. Sea Salt from the Dead Sea can be dangerously high in Bromide. Sea salt from our polluted oceans can contain harmful pollutants.

Bottom line is we don't know what type of sea salt food manufacturers are using in the foods we eat. My current preference is Redmond Real Salt. It is a naturally occurring sea salt that is mined from underground ancient seabeds that dried up thousands of years ago (in theory, no pollution).

Here's another interesting thread on the topic: http://ehealthforum.com/health/sea-s...s-t134409.html