POLYSYMPTOMATIC SYNDROMES AND AUTONOMIC REACTIVITY TO NONFOOD STRESSORS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SELF-REPORTED ADVERSE FOOD REACTIONS

This study compared symptom reports and cardiovascular reactivity of a group of 24 individuals recruited from the community who reported a c ognitive or emotional symptom caused by at least one food (food-sensit ivity reporters, FSR) vs those of 15 controls (C) without a history of food, chemical, drug, or inhalant sensitivities. The main findings we re: 1) FSR indicated sensitivities not only to foods, but also to envi ronmental chemicals, drugs. and natural inhalants, as well as signific antly more symptoms than C in multiple systems; 2) more FSR than C not ed recent state depression and anxiety, as well as higher trait anxiet y on the Bendig form of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale; 3) however, on multiple regression analysis, not only depression, but also the nu mber of sensitivities (foods, chemicals, drugs, inhalants), accounted for part of the variance in total number of symptoms (38 and 17%, resp ectively), whereas none of the affective measures accounted for any of the variance in total number of sensitivities over all subjects; 4) a fter controlling for depression and anxiety, FSR still showed a trend toward poorer performance on a timed mental arithmetic task (p = 0.16) ; and 5) FSR and C showed opposite patterns of heart rate change to tw o different stressful tasks (mental arithmetic and isometric exercise) (group by task interaction, p < 0.05). The data are discussed in term s of a time-dependent sensitization (TDS) process that predicts a cros s-sensitizing and cross-reactive role for xenobiotic agents (e.g., foo ds, chemicals, drugs, and inhalants) and for salient psychological str ess in the expression of psychophysiological dysfunctions of FSR. As i n other chronically ill populations, negative affect in food-sensitive individuals may explain greater symptom reporting, but not necessaril y account for the illness itself. For either a food or a psychological stimulus to begin to elicit sensitized responses, e.g., marked physio logical differences from C, FSR may require multiple, intermittent exp osures spaced over 5-28 days rather than on only 1 day.