Allergies are blamed for a lot of illnesses, but I come from a family of alcoholics. There is no way. My mother dies because of it and my brother exchanged one addiction for another. He turned to coffee. My addiction is food. My daughters is food. I don't believe everything that is written out there. And like you said it is only a theory.

Hi ganzestadt

in answer to your question, may I suggest you get hold of the book "the sugar addict's total recovery programme" by kathleen desmaisons phd.

It is a well written, intelligent book that I believe all alcoholics/families of alcoholics should read. I had a friend who had been a sober alcoholic for years but still had a weight problem. I loaned the book to her, she followed the dietary advice, & cried.

She cried because she said she wished the book had been written years before as she felt it would have saved her a years of misery.

She also lost 4st in weight, advises she has more energy than she's had in years & feels her consentration & mental agility have improved.

I think in many years to come the author, kathleen desmaisons, will be proved right.

Here is a study you might find interesting:

"Joseph Beasley, et. al., (1991) tested 108 alcoholics for allergies in a treatment program in Amityville, New York and found allergies in the following percentages: corn, 75.9 percent; milk, 74.1 percent; peanut 67.6 percent; cocoa, 66.7 percent; whole egg, 60.2 percent; orange, 57.4 percent; tomato, 52.8 percent; shrimp, 48.1 percent; and wheat 46.3 percent. Beasley did not test for rye allergy, but other investigators have found a high percentage of alcoholics are allergic to rye. Many beverage alcohols are fermented from corn, wheat and rye. Distillation can concentrate allergenic cogeners, present in these foods."

I am a recovering alcoholic. Is a conincidence that I also have known food allergies to milk and wheat and that I am an alcoholic? Other allergens such as yeast are suspected, but can not be confirmed because I do not have medical insurance to get tested. By the way I always favored beer (very high in yeast!) and I always loved liquor distilled from wheat.

I highly recommend people whom face this issue to explore the knowledge out there on the subject. Nutritional advice can be had, that would help an alcoholic inrecovery, as changing my diet has helped me. At the least I think that it is intriguing. Holistic options appear to be most helpful for this.

I think the term "allergy" is misleading. I am a recovering alcoholic, and firmly believe that my body does not process alcohol in the same way that a non-alcoholic's would. I don't know too many alcoholics, recovering or not, who would argue this point. I also work in the healthcare field, and am very sure that, by definition, the term "allergy" is not appropriate. I believe Dr. Silkworth used this term as a metaphor, albeit not a great one. After reading the definition(s) of the word "allergy" in Merriam-Webster, the only conclusion I can draw is that, if anything, it is the absence of an allergic reaction to alcohol which makes an alcoholic. To put it simply, if I were allergic to strawberries not only would I not want to consume them, but I would not be physically able to consume them in any great quantity. Alcoholism (and this term, too, defies any real concrete definition)is, in part, due to
a physiological reaction. It is, however, not an allergic reaction. The bottom line is this: if thinking of alcoholism as an allergy helps you to maintain your sobriety, by all means continue to do that. If it drives you a little mad to hear a medical term used improperly...get over it - I have.
physiological