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The Hidden, or “Masking”
Effect ExplainedL
et me say a little more about the mechanism of disguised allergy, as
it applies to food as well as to other allergies.
A significant light was shed by Herbert Rinkel MD, an American
doctor who has made a great contribution to medical science in the 1930s
and 40s. Rinkel discovered himself to be allergic to eggs despite eating large
quantities of them on a virtually daily basis. (When Rinkel was an indigent
student, his father, who was a farmer, kept him well supplied with eggs for
years.) Rinkel suffered from severe catarrh, but when the supply of eggs was
temporarily interrupted for a few days, the catarrh cleared up dramatically!
Rinkel immediately suspected an egg reaction; but the clinch came when he
next ate an egg as a test. He passed out!
From these clues, Rinkel was able to reason out the mechanism
involved: repeated ingestion of the food was somehow damping down the reaction, so
that there was no obvious connection between the symptoms and the intake of a particular
food. Here was yet another case of a chance observation grasped upon
by a brilliant mind which comprehends significances that most ordinary
people would pass by. An understanding of exactly how a hidden allergy or
intolerance works is of vital importance to you in solving your own case.
The explanation that follows is given in terms of food allergy and genetic
food intolerance, but it is important to remember that the same principles
apply to chemicals, dust, molds and other sensitivities as well.
Suppose you are allergic to milk and dairy produce (it happens to
be a very common allergy) and ate it almost every day: cereals with milk for
breakfast each morning; milk with coffee or tea, perhaps. Your body would
adapt in an unhappy fashion to this daily onslaught of toxin.
For long periods you might feel quite well; then you have a sudden
attack of your complaint. You would say to yourself, not unreasonably: ‘It