What are Salicylates?
Classified as naturally occurring chemicals in foods, Salicylates can be the main cause of food intolerance symptoms.
Amines also fall into this group and can cause food intolerance symptoms as well. From my research, it is considered that more people suffer from Salicylate intolerance symptoms than amine intolerance symptoms.
You may have an issue with both salicylates and amines but not be aware that both are having an impact on your health.
Salicylates naturally occur as part of the plant’s defence system and that is how you most likely encounter them. They are also used in medication, skincare and other products.
So if you are on medication or considering medication, consult your doctor. Salicylates are commonly used in Asprin.
Salicylate Intolerance Symptoms
We all have a threshold when it comes to naturally occurring chemicals and your salicylate intolerance symptoms are more likely to become more severe, the closer you get to, or go over, your natural limit.
Staying on a low salicylate diet will help you keep under your body’s threshold where you are less likely to show symptoms of salicylate intolerance. And this is a good goal in the short term but the aim long term should be to heal your body so that you are not restricting your diet.
If you want to find out if you have a food reaction to amines then you can read my amine article.
You can also purchase a copy of Friendly Food, which is pictured above,. It is written by the Allergy Experts at the RPA Allergy Unit in Sydney Australia.
This is a list of some of the Salicylate Intolerance Symptoms:
- hives
- swelling
- Chronic Headaches
- mouth ulcers
- stomach pains
- IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
- nausea
- sinus problems
- a general feeling of being unwell
For a more extensive list of salicylate intolerance symptoms, I recommend having a look at this book by Sue Dengate that also has a check list to assist you to work out your salicylate intolerance symptoms.
Suggestions for Dealing with Salicylate Intolerance Symptoms
Aside from the fact that salicylates and amines may be impacting your health, there could be other things you need to do.
Remove all additives and preservatives from your diet. You may even find this step alone makes a difference to the way you feel. Allow a couple of weeks to feel the difference.
Then, the best step is to conduct a food elimination diet. I have provided information on this in an article I wrote earlier.
Depending on your age, water fasting is a great way to get your body back on track.
Resources I recommend to begin your food elimination diet are:
Fed Up – loads of information and some recipes.
The Failsafe Cookbook hard copy – less information than Fed Up by Sue Dengate but more recipes to use.
Friendly Food Cookbook – A MUST!! Advantage is that is has food charts to show levels of salicylates and amines in certain foods.
I have personally used all three of the books listed above and highly recommend them.
Below are some other resources that I have not tried but you might like to and let me know how you get on with them. Leave a comment at the end of this article so you can help others who may be in a similar situation.
- Salicylate Intolerance book
- Conquering Allergy and Food Intolerance Naturally book
- Book – Food Allergies and Food Intolerance: The Complete Guide to Their Identification and Treatment
- The Food Intolerance Bible
- Natural Solutions for Food Allergies and Food Intolerances: Scientifically Proven Remedies for Food Sensitivities
- If you want to get a bit more technical then try this book – click here
Please let us know if there are any other resources you have come across that will assist my readers with their own salicylate intolerance symptoms.
Remember, I am here to help so don’t be afraid to leave a comment or send me an email if you don’t want to be published.
Your News On Food brought to you by Eileen Baudinette Food and Health Commentator. © 2012 thenewsonfood.com ———————–Disclaimer:
I’m no medical expert and information contained on this blog is written through my own experience with the aim of furthering your education on health. It is your responsibility as to how you use this information and I cannot be held liable for any misinterpretation or misuse of the information provided.
Intolerance to food is actually quite common. My wife has many allergic reactions to certain foods, the poor darling, but I have a cast iron constitution and can eat anything except dairy products.
Hi Harry,
Yes, you are right that food intolerance is quite common it is just that some people are not aware that they can feel better than they currently do. They put some of their food intolerance symptoms down to being tired and cranky.
Has your wife tried an extended water fast? Then, introduce the food that seems to cause food problems very slowly over time. This can work a treat. Processed dairy is bad for you and your body is telling you that. 🙂
Thanks for your comment Harry. I wish great health to you and your wife.
Eileen.
Hi Eileen,
I found this website which lists the salycilate content of 333 different foods. It’s free and very useful if you want to know the level of salicylates in what you’re eating (or considering eating).
http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/research/salicylatesinfoods.pdf
Hi Bec,
Thanks for both your comments. The link you have provided is very useful and what is good about it is that it lists some brands. The same people have published the book Friendly Food which I also wrote an article about some time ago. Thanks for your input.
Stay well, Eileen.
I like the idea of ‘friendly foods’ – but how great that some plants have a defense system! It’s just a shame some of these defense systems can cause Salicylate intolerance symptoms.
Jan LittlehalesÃ�´s last blog post ..Jamie’s Crispy Salmon – in Ten Minutes
Hi Jan,
Yes, it is a shame that some foods cause salicylate intolerance symptoms and it can start at a very young age too. I recognized the food problems with my son when he was a toddler and I also came to understand that I too was suffering from food intolerance symptoms. Now, we eat whatever fruit or vegetable we want and don’t have a reaction but it did take some research to get us to this point.
Stay well and regards, Eileen.
Interesting Reading! We have to be very careful with what our boys eat – they cant have colours or preservatives in any of our food! We have even noticed a difference with Real Milk compared to the shop milk!
We have the “Additive Alert” book – its brilliant!
Cheers
Lisa
Lisa Wood�´s last blog post ..Damn I Never Forget Important Dates, Valentines Day?
Hi Lisa,
Fantastic of you to let us know that you don’t buy foods with additives. Yes, Additive Alert has been a fantastic resource for us too. I read my labels on everything and we are a high raw family so don’t buy many products from the supermarket shelf. Raw milk was a change we made some time ago. There is a lot of controversy surrounding drinking cows milk and I am now leaning more toward no dairy at all but need to research this further. We use Almond milk but our breakfasts these days are different to what most people would do. I’ll write a post on it in the near future I hope.
Stay well Lisa and all the best to you and your family.
Eileen.
Hi Eileen, this is such a very important blog post, aside from giving some information that will help our health. I agree with you, we should refrain from putting some preservatives on our food, especially MSG.
beautydeleon�´s last blog post ..Foods To Help You Lose Weight
Hi Beautydeleon,
Glad you give the thumbs up to my work. Maybe one day manufacturers will change what they do if we stop buying their preservative and additive laden foods. I don’t buy many shelf products but today I was reading the label on a product that said “No MSG” but what they had instead was HVP (Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein which is just as bad as MSG). Shame on companies that do that.
Stay well, Eileen.
Great to give people some information that will help our health. Great work
Hi Camilla,
Always looking to help people get well and stay well. Thanks for leaving a comment!
Regards, Eileen.
This website has been really helpful and enlightening..thankyou! for years I’ve been getting hot flushes after eating, some worse than others though I’ve been aware that wine/cheese/chocolate are the most likely to cause a reaction, though never seen a doctor about it. Today has been the worst (hence me finding this) I also have constant sinus trouble and eczema and asthma periodically and my eldest has particularly bad eczema. I’m really not sure where to go from here, also unsure whether it might just be salicylates or amines in general? I’m not comfortable with going to my doctor and cannot afford to see a nutritionist. I’m also worried about not getting enough fresh foods into my diet if I eliminate more as I have oral allergy syndrome and struggle as it is! help!
Hi Naomi,
Best place to start without visiting a doctor; although you may need some tests to find out what the issues are, is to do a food elimination diet. You can read my article on it by clicking here Then, if you need assistance after that then come back to my blog and I will assist where I can. My guess is that you have a food reaction to amines based on your comment.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Eileen.
Hi thanks for all this info it’s great to eventually find some help I was diagnosed with salicylates sensitivity after years of chronic urtacaria sinusitis swelling and on one occasion anaphalactoid reaction so scary!!!! I was wondering if you could help me with something I keep getting different views on ss and I like to drink llots of bottled spring water but someone has told me I can’t as it has sulphate in it but I didn’t think sulphate was the same now I’m just confused can you help me with this many thanks
Hi Annie,
Sorry to hear you have had such a severe reaction.
From my understanding, sulphate is not the same as salicylates and sulphates are not the same a sulphites (preservative 220-223). Salicylates are from salicylic acid. If your spring water is carbonated then the bubbles can be bad for bone density but if it is filtered, pure water then I do not see any reason why you cannot drink it. Hope that answers your question.
Stay well, Eileen.
My 9 year old son has shown ADD/ADHD symptoms since he was very young. My husband and I have fought against medication from the begining. Last December we decided to try the Fiengold Diet. It removes all additives from the diet and during the first phase also removes all foods and products that are high in salicylates. We have had wonderful results with this program. Last week we attempted to add tomatoes back into our diet, my son had a terrible reaction that has lasted for 4 days. He went from being well behaved, sweet and helpful to defiant, depressed and was caught rolling around on the ground at school with his shirt pulled over his head. I had no idea how sensitve he was to salicylates until we began this diet. It has changed the lives of our family in the most wonderful ways. Here’s the link if anyone is interested: http://www.feingold.org/
Hi Krystina,
Some people have reported success with Feingold, as you mention. I am sorry to hear that your son is sensitive to salicylates and I know how hard it can be for all to deal with that given my own personal experience. I am so pleased to hear your didn’t go the medication route as I see this as the wrong way to go. It might be worth getting some water kefir as in most cases, leaky gut is responsible for food intolerance symptoms. The idea is to heal the body with food, even though food is the problem. Getting the body back to being able to tolerate healthy foods is what we want. Definitely keep away from all additives and preservatives. Also, hydrogenated, processed foods make the situation worse.
I appreciate you leaving a comment and hope your son makes a full recovery to a normal, healthy food diet. 🙂
Regards, Eileen.