Sunflower Oil and Sunflower Seeds Intolerance

[Carrigon]

I've had a sunflower seed intolerance for years with horrible stomach problems if I ever dare to eat them. And now I'm finding I have it to anything with sunflower oil in it. And all of a sudden, it seems alot of food companies are suddenly putting it into the food.

I made a rice dish for dinner the other night, got deathly ill from it, then read the ingredients on the rice. Sure enough, it had sunflower oil in it.

Yet one more thing I have to watch in the food ingredients. I'm wondering if this is why alot of people are now saying they can't eat white rice. There was never a problem with white rice before. There shouldn't be sunflower oil used in it, but all of a sudden there is.

 

[sensing progress]

big food corporations will use whatever is cheapest. sunflower might be the cheapest oil at the moment for this use. same thing with high fructose corn syrup, the reason it's in everything is that corn is heavily subsidized in the US and therefore one of the cheapest commodities. much cheaper than regular cane sugar, so it's used in everything.

 

[alex3619]

Hi Carrigon

Sunflower is a high omega-6 oil. Do you have problems with other things - generic vegetable oil, evening primrose oil, egg yolks etc? Are there any other oils or vegetable fats you have a problem with?

Bye
Alex

 

[Carrigon]

Maybe. I can't eat plain eggs. If they are fried, no matter how well cooked, I get sick. And I even got sick recently just from dumplings that were made with eggs. Evening Primrose oil, I have a problem with the hormonal effects in it. It made me much more POTS/lightheaded and some menstrual problems with it.

I hate corn syrup in my food. I have a problem with corn sometimes, too, probably the GMO corn. And I hate the taste of corn syrup in food.

 

[alex3619]

Hi Carrigon

this sounds like it might be a problem with excess omega-6 fats. You sound like you are careful with what you eat, but I would suggest extreme caution if eating out - vegetable fats could possibly make you much sicker than you have so far experienced. How do you tolerate extra virgin olive oil?

Bye
Alex

 

[caledonia]

It does sound like you're sensitive to omega 6's / arachadonic acid. You may be ok with egg whites. The yolks have the fat with the arachadonic acid.

You would likely benefit from omega 3 supplementation which would get the balance of your essential fatty acids going in a better direction.

Check out Barry Sears' book The Zone for a good explanation of why you're having those problems and how to fix it.

 

[Carrigon]

I've never had a problem with olive oil. I've used it all my life in cooking.

I have a million food sensitivities. Every day, it's like what can I eat that won't make me sick.

 

[alex3619]

Hi Carrigon

I am thinking along the lines of caledonia, but I would recommend Sear's "The Omega-3 Zone" as it has more info on this topic. Extra virgin olive oil is a good thing for most CFS patients, it contains very little of the poorly tolerated fats and lots of antioxidants. I suspect the omega-9 fats in olive oil will help you tolerate the omega-6 fats better as well, but this wont be as powerful as fish oils.

The clincher is probably this: do the symptoms you get when you eat these things include muscle and gut pain, plus headaches and a flu-like feeling? The more of these you answer yes to, the more likely that omega-6s are the problem.

Barry Sear's work on the Zone diet is great for healthy people, and for those who are ill but don't have anything like CFS. His treatment is OK for CFS, but requires a lot of work for someone with low energy and wont give you a lot more energy to compensate, but maybe some. The problem includes the enzymes that process omega-6s are probably damaged by oxidative stress, and typically function poorly if your reduced glutathione status is low. On the other hand, other factors are stimulating the use of these chemicals. So we are both deficient (in production) and have excess (in use). These chemicals, once used, are pro-inflammatory with a few exceptions. They are also essential to life. You need to be eating at least some omega-6 fats to survive, but olive oil does contain small quantities, as does meat. Avoid organ meats, egg yolks, and coastal fish (deep sea fish is good though). Generic vegetable oils are the worst things you could eat with this problem. Avocado, peanut, and macadamia oils are good alternatives to olive oil if you have trouble affording it (peanut is much cheaper than avacado or macadamia oil), or just want a change (macadamia oil is great on home made popcorn! - if you can tolerate corn that is).

Bye
Alex

I've never had a problem with olive oil. I've used it all my life in cooking.

I have a million food sensitivities. Every day, it's like what can I eat that won't make me sick.

 

[dannybex]

A couple of other suggestions...

Besides the omega 6 factor, you might have an intolerance to salicylates.

Salicylate sensitivity symptoms often are very similar to some CFS symptoms, and can arise if glycine and other aminos are depleted in the liver. Glycine helps detoxify salicylates and phenols. Some foods are very high in salicylates...there's a lot of info and lists online. There are websites (esp dealing with autism) where kids (and adults) have gotten off of high-salicylate foods (and avoided other phenols) and improved considerably.

Another possibility is that the oil is oxidized and/or rancid.

And another possibility is that there was something else in the rice -- some 'hidden' flavoring or msg-type additive that your body said NO to.

???

 

[Carrigon]

Hi Carrigon
The clincher is probably this: do the symptoms you get when you eat these things include muscle and gut pain, plus headaches and a flu-like feeling? The more of these you answer yes to, the more likely that omega-6s are the problem.
Bye
Alex

I think so. But everything makes me sick anyway. What I can say is, if I eat mayonaisse, the next day, I'm flared up in ten times more pain and that's egg based. There is definitely something going on with me and eggs.

And I can't have sunflower oil or sunflower seeds. I get colitis like attacks if I do.

It really gets hard to find anything to eat at all when everything makes you sick.

 

[alex3619]

Hi dannybex

I agree with you. However, did you know that salicylates primarily damage the same enzymes that process omega-6, and that this is why the symptoms are similar? The enzymes are delta-five desaturase and delta-6 desaturase. These are responsible for the early stages of eicosanoid synthesis, a category of cellular hormones, required for the maintenance and regulation of every cell in the body. The issue with over-utilization is immune and cortisol related, and has different mechanisms.

Bye
Alex

Besides the omega 6 factor, you might have an intolerance to salicylates.

Salicylate sensitivity symptoms often are very similar to some CFS symptoms, and can arise if glycine and other aminos are depleted in the liver. Glycine helps detoxify salicylates and phenols. Some foods are very high in salicylates...there's a lot of info and lists online. There are websites (esp dealing with autism) where kids (and adults) have gotten off of high-salicylate foods (and avoided other phenols) and improved considerably.

Another possibility is that the oil is oxidized and/or rancid.

And another possibility is that there was something else in the rice -- some 'hidden' flavoring or msg-type additive that your body said NO to.

???

 

[caledonia]

Hi Alex,
I believe the title is actually The Omega Rx Zone, but yes, that is also a good book.

For Carrigon, I have a lot of food intolerances too. Mainly, I make everything from scratch so I know what's in it. I bring my own food when I go out.

A new wrinkle I learned is making life much easier - self muscle testing. You can quickly and easily test food to see if it agrees with you or not, before you buy it, eat it or find out the hard way. There are several videos on YouTube explaining how to do it.

It may also be possible to eliminate your food allergies with NAET, Bioallergenix, or EFT. I was looking into this, but lack the energy to go often to a practitioner. Funding could also be a problem for many. I tried EFT on my own, which seemed to eliminate allergies but they keep coming back.

My naturopath had me do IGG powder for 3 months to help with leaky gut (which causes food allergies). I haven't developed any new allergies since then, so maybe it did something, not sure. The old allergies are more than enough to keep me busy though, lol.

 

[Carrigon]

I'm still trying to figure out what really triggered this. I had problems like this with my stomach in the 80's. But for the most part, the attacks became rare. Then, about a month ago, bang. I've had both Crohn's and IBS symptoms. I don't know, I started eating out at fast food places with a friend, and I think it could have triggered it. I just don't know. Normally, I do make most all my own food. Something really got me this time. It's either that or when the pharmacy changed manufacturers on my thyroid med. I can't have the fillers. I'm going to ask my doc to switch me to the gelcaps when I see her in a few weeks.

And I'm still going to eat out this weekend, so who knows what that's going to do to me.

 

[Karin]

Yep, my autistic son has the same problem. He has intolerance (blood IgG) to most seeds and grains. Sunflower is a big one in there. But canola, safflower, etc... also show up. I have noticed that he is also intolerant to the oils derived from those. The only oils he can have now is olive oil and grapeseed oil. All the others, he reacts. Since I cook from scratch, that's OK, but I'd prefer to have more choices. Another example is flax: flax never showed up in his IgG panel, I guess because he never ate flax. However, I started giving him flaxseed oil, and at first he seemed to do well, but after a while it went south, and at his next IgG panel flax was showing +3. So he got sensitized to flax through the oil, I never gave him seeds.

A couple thoughts: some vaccines contain oil emulsions, peanut, sesame, ... I guess babies can be sensitized to those through the vaccines.
Cows are fed grains, and if sensitive to these grains, eating their meat or drinking their milk can be a problem. Grassfed would be the way to go, I guess.

 

[Carrigon]

Karin, did you try peanut oil? I've used it in some of my desserts and seem okay with it. For all other cooking, I use olive oil only.

 

[Karin]

Karin, did you try peanut oil? I've used it in some of my desserts and seem okay with it. For all other cooking, I use olive oil only.

Yes, thanks, I tried peanut oil, but he also react to it. Peanut shows up in his IgG test too.

 

[Karin]

Hi dannybex

I agree with you. However, did you know that salicylates primarily damage the same enzymes that process omega-6, and that this is why the symptoms are similar? The enzymes are delta-five desaturase and delta-6 desaturase. These are responsible for the early stages of eicosanoid synthesis, a category of cellular hormones, required for the maintenance and regulation of every cell in the body. The issue with over-utilization is immune and cortisol related, and has different mechanisms.

Bye
Alex

Alex,

I am very interested in what you wrote because we did an 'Essential and Metabolic Fatty Acid Analysis RBC' at Genova, and found out my son's results 'strongly suggest impaired delta-6 desaturase. He does not seem to be able to convert linoleic acid into gamma-linolenic acid, and as a result he is deficient in DGLA. That explains why he does well with borage oil supplements. Also, he cannot convert linoleic acid into arachidonic acid and is also deficient in arachidonic acid. I give him egg yolks but need to look into supplementing AA directly. The report states that AA deficiency can lead to neurological deficits, which he has.

Do you know of anything that can be done to help these enzymes directly? Or any informative documents I could read? He cannot tolerate carnitine and biotin either and I am wondering if there could be a link with his deficient fatty acid metabolism.

Thanks.

 

[dannybex]

Alex,

I am very interested in what you wrote because we did an 'Essential and Metabolic Fatty Acid Analysis RBC' at Genova, and found out my son's results 'strongly suggest impaired delta-6 desaturase. He does not seem to be able to convert linoleic acid into gamma-linolenic acid, and as a result he is deficient in DGLA. That explains why he does well with borage oil supplements. Also, he cannot convert linoleic acid into arachidonic acid and is also deficient in arachidonic acid. I give him egg yolks but need to look into supplementing AA directly. The report states that AA deficiency can lead to neurological deficits, which he has.

Do you know of anything that can be done to help these enzymes directly? Or any informative documents I could read? He cannot tolerate carnitine and biotin either and I am wondering if there could be a link with his deficient fatty acid metabolism.

Thanks.

Yes, very interesting Alex. Man, this illness is so complicated, isn't it?

Karin -- interesting that your son can tolerate borage oil. Is that made from borage seeds, or the plant (leaves)? Just wondering what the salicylate content would be.

I did read that Dr. Myhill has written about VegEPA, which is a combination of evening primrose oil and a small amount of fish oil, as a way of improving (or getting around) the delta-6 issue, but I'm no scientist at all, so hopefully Alex can weigh in on this.

Very interesting thread.

d.

p.s. Carrigon: Re eating out: Have you looked into gluten intolerance? Wheat is in almost EVERYTHING...even salad dressings.

 

[xrayspex]

thats too bad about sunflowers for you---for me they have been a lifesaver over the years lOVE them and read they have important nutrients for us, I eat them daily, I like them in yogurt and cereal mmmmm and sunbutter is great
but everyone is so dif, I had the alcat and it showed apples and garlic for example are not good for me and of course for some they are great.....

 

[Karin]

Yes, very interesting Alex. Man, this illness is so complicated, isn't it?

Karin -- interesting that your son can tolerate borage oil. Is that made from borage seeds, or the plant (leaves)? Just wondering what the salicylate content would be.

dannybex, you know, good question, I would not be surprised if he is intolerant to borage oil, but maybe he gets more benefits than negatives with it, and also, I give him only one capsule every third day, it is a small amount in comparison with the amount of oils typically used for cooking. I also have evening primrose oil, but the content in GLA is much smaller than borage oil. Would that be better than borage oil though for some reason? Thanks.