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Failsafe 108 (October 2023 - January 2024)

The Food Intolerance Network provides information and support for people worldwide using a low-chemical elimination diet free of additives, low in salicylates, amines and flavour enhancers (FAILSAFE) for health, behaviour and learning problems.

Focus:

Diet saved our relationship

Preservatives must change the microbiome

What is Mast Cell Activation disorder (MCAS)?

Cook's corner:

Oat and cashew crackers

At the Failsafe Table focus on swede (rutabaga)

Success stories: [1659] – [1665]

[1665] One-liners (October 2023)
[1664] Dizziness and licorice (October 2023)
[1663] “Calm, diligent, happy and relaxed when failsafe” (October 2023)
[1662] Emotional food intolerance reactions (facebook thread) (September 2023)
[1661] Is anger a side-effect of amines? (facebook thread) (September 2023)
[1660] Overcoming food intolerance: neuroplasticity and brain retraining (September 2023)
[1659] Overcoming food intolerance: neuro linguistic programing NLP (September 2023)

Your questions:

Should we avoid emulsifiers?

Have you got a recent summary of research on food and autism?

Frequently Asked Questions

In brief:

BOOK REVIEW: Ultra Processed People: Why do we all eat stuff that isn’t food...and why can’t we stop?

Misophonia: what’s behind the phenomenon that makes certain sounds unbearable?

Overcoming food intolerance

STOP PRESS: California bans four food additives linked to cancer and other health risks

Research:

Ultra-processed food raises risk of heart attack and stroke

Licorice toxicity

Failsafe shopping list:

Updated complete list of food additives, with those to avoid highlighted

Vanilla Bliss is back

Food Intolerance Resources from RPAH; SPECIAL OFFER on Friendly Food

Factsheets: over 100 science-based information sheets on symptoms and additives. See also video resources. See also story collections

Support community: Failsafers talking to each other. New and updated dietitians.

Thanks and admin:

Hello everyone

Newsletter 108 is out now, thanks to all who contributed.

Highlights: Latest blogs: Diet saved our relationship; Mast cell activation syndrome guest blog; Preservatives and the microbiome. Research: Should we avoid emulsifiers? and Update on dangers of licorice. Book review: Ultra Processed People

"Failsafe program actually saved our marriage" - Kellie

Popular reader stories include

"emotional reactions to foods... depression...anxiety...panic attacks...meltdowns...PMS... anger/aggression” - facebook thread [1662]
“Is anger a side effect of amines?" - facebook thread [1661]
"Irrationality, wakefulness, defiance, teary, hyperactive (to) calm, diligent, happy and relaxed” - [1663]
"the most help that I received in a long time...." - [1665]
"🙏🏻...unbelievable that such a tiny thing can have such a big impact" - [1665]

Now read on - Sue Dengate

Diet saved our relationship

Symptoms of food intolerance can put pressure on relationships with both family and friends – and doing the diet can help them. Here are some reports from failsafers.

From tummy aches, ear infections, motor tics, sleeping issues and behavioural problems to happy and healthy boys who maintain beautiful relationships with friends and family – Jenny from story

We found failsafe 12 years ago after a search for alternatives to ADHD drugs... our efforts truly paid off… with our daughter graduating with the highest score in her high school with some great friendships and a confidence that surprises us even today…This system saved our family and our marriage - Donna from story

We purchased your book 'Fed Up' and started to use some of your foods mentioned … we noticed a difference with our children who are ADHD … .I had felt up until a day or two into your diet we had been robbed of the normal loving caring relationship shared by mother and son … Thank you so much as it has brought our family closer – from story

....my husband and I were constantly arguing before we changed what we ate, we had years of trouble and were seriously considering divorce. After 5 days on the program we suddenly had peace between us... both my husband and myself firmly believe that the Failsafe program actually saved our marriage - Kellie from story

READ MANY MORE in Sue’s latest blog

Preservatives must change the microbiome

Recent media reports about earlier cancer occurrence have pointed to microbiome changes and have suggested ultra-processed food as a cause. But none so far have pinpointed a possible role for anti-microbial food preservatives.

Regulators do not require testing of the effects of such food additives on the microbiome. If you swallow a chemical designed to kill bacteria in food, one might expect it to kill bacteria in your gut too, with consequences. It is not just antibiotics that alter the microbiome. Yet published research is minimal.

There is clearly something wrong with our food regulation system when it remains wilfully blind to such obvious problems without requiring far better research before continuing to approve anti-microbial preservatives.

READ MORE to see which preservatives failsafers avoid and see scientific references.

What is Mast Cell Activation disorder (MCAS)?

There has been a lot more awareness about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS for short) recently, which has left a lot of people wondering - what is MCAS? And do my symptoms mean that I have MCAS?

Symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome can include

• rashes, itching skin or flushing
• itchy, watery eyes
• runny nose
• swelling, inflammation
• headaches, brain fog
• rapid heart beat
• fatigue
• diarrhoea, constipation or abdominal pain
• wheezing
• anaphylaxis

Mast cells are one type of immune cell that release histamine (as well as other mediators) when they are triggered, so many of the symptoms are related to a surge of histamine.

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is, in some ways similar to an allergy (like peanut or grass pollen allergy). However, instead of your immune responding to just 1 type of allergenic trigger, it can respond to a whole range of triggers, which can be different for each person and often seemingly random.

Can a Low Chemical Diet help with MCAS?

Yes, a low chemical diet (eg Failsafe Diet) reduces your intake of histamines and can help reduce histamine-triggered symptoms, although for many people with MCAS you will also need some additional strategies.

Histamines come from your diet, from your gut bacteria and from Mast Cells when they are triggered. All of the histamine (from all three sources) contributes to your histamine load or 'bucket'.

READ MORE in this guest blog by Food Intolerance dietitian Liz Beavis APD https://www.foodintolerancedietitian.com/

Oat and cashew crackers

It is impossible to find crackers without nasties, try these extremely simple, fast and very popular oat and cashew crackers.

½ cup raw cashews
1¾ cups rolled oats
1 tsp salt or omit
1 cup milk/soymilk/ricemilk/water

Preheat oven to 175˚C fan-forced. Line the base of two ungreased baking trays 24x30cm with baking paper. Put all ingredients into food processor or Thermomix and blend (eg TM speed 5.5 10 secs, scrape down, speed 5.5 10 secs). Pour half into each baking tray and spread with broad spatula across almost the entire sheets, taking care not to make too thin on the edges or they might burn.

Bake 10 mins then remove from oven and score with a blunt knife into say 16 pieces. Replace and bake for 20 mins, checking that they are not burning. When all nicely brown, take out and gently turn them over in the tray. Put back into the oven, turned off, and leave door ajar to dry the crackers completely - they are best completely dry. Store in an air-tight container or freezer.

VARIATIONS: Add 1 tsp garlic paste for savoury, or 4 tbsp brown sugar for sweet (these are more runny and cook more quickly, be careful!).

You can always find more recipe ideas at https://www.fedup.com.au/recipes or Failsafe Cookbook

Every failsafer should get the regular newsletter from The Failsafe Table - it is fantastic - Newsletter Sept 2023 #75 Focuses on Swede (Rutabaga) and has some surprising and easy recipes for this under-rated vegetable. Links to recipes make it so easy – thanks again Rona at Domestic Diva Unleashed!

You can find more great recipes at Domestic Diva Unleashed, Cooking for Oscar, Failsafe Foodie, Real Meals and Failsafe Decorated Cakes.

There's a recipe index of ANY Failsafe recipes on ANY blog. So far there are more than 1,000 recipes with great photos and ideas all categorised to make it easy to search http://pinterest.com/failsafetable/

Failsafe Thermomix group with recipes and a place to ask questions etc https://www.facebook.com/groups/139914166142279/

I bought a Thermomix a couple of months ago, and absolutely love it. These machines are totally awesome, so pure and clean, and I truly believe that if we’d had a Thermomix years ago when our son was at his worst, it would have saved us a lot of heartache, as well as time and money - Susan.

And the very useful weekly meal plan website https://mealsplans.wordpress.com/

You can scroll through the full text of all stories: for every story we report, there are probably another 10 that cover similar issues. And these are just the ones we get to hear about. Names have been changed to protect privacy.

Success story collections: organised by symptom or by additive keywords are proving the most popular downloads from the website. They'll be added to as time permits.

People tell us that stories are so useful and positive!

[1665] One-liners (October 2023)

I honestly thought I was going mad with all the reactions and restrictive diet and not seeing a steady improvement. This last week has been the biggest change ever! ❤❤❤ - Jess

The information that I have obtained from your organization has helped enormously to clarify many things, which is the most help that I have received in a long time – Sharon

Thank you for all the work and advocacy you guys have done which helps us all! – Belinda

It’s tough when you have had positive experiences and others aren’t willing to listen when things have made a massive difference to our households – Andy

This is the greatest support group! It is magic 💫 – Emma

I can definitely remember my 6yo child say “mmmm, can we eat like this all the time?” I think we were eating a coleslaw, rice and chicken at the time! – Sue

Thank you 🙏🏻. It seems unbelievable that such a tiny thing can have such a big impact but it does! - Ann

[1664] Dizziness and licorice (October 2023)

[1663] “Calm, diligent, happy and relaxed when failsafe” (October 2023)

My boys are night and day when eating failsafe to not. Irrationality, wakefulness and insomnia, defiance and teary or hyperactive when we don’t follow the diet strictly. Calm, diligent, happy and relaxed when failsafe. I almost cry when I think what it would be like if we didn’t know about this and we were living with them eating the wrong foods unknowingly. As hard as the diet is - the alternative would be so much harder!! – Emma

[1662] Emotional food intolerance reactions (facebook thread) (September 2023)

Anyone have a reaction that is more emotional than physical? Something I’m eating makes me almost suicidally depressed (loss of interest in life, crying that won’t stop etc) then it abates after a day or two. It makes me wonder if my whole lifetime of depression has been one long food reaction and I’ve only connected the dots after noticing some extremes - Ruth

Responses:

Gluten heightens my anxiety and depression. Took me years of trial and error to notice the correlation - Terry

Yup absolutely, amongst many other reactions. I’m super sals sensitive - Anne

My dietitian said she had a client whose whole life direction had been affected by depression and anxiety, only to find out it was food intolerances. Get the RPAH books. Find a dietitian who specialises in this work. The Fedup website has a list of suitable people, many will do remote appointments. Follow the process - the limited diet and food and mood diary. With a bit of perseverance you should be able to find the cause - Lorraine

When I did the nitrates challenge I had full on meltdowns and panic attacks. I have a few other things going on neurologically, but noticed a huge change in anxiety and emotions when I started the elimination diet. Best of luck. 💙😊 - Erin

Absolutely! Soy and gluten. Soy is especially bad as it is used in so many gluten free products. In trying to eliminate the gluten containing foods from my diet I discovered that the soy was causing me even more problems - Helen

Chocolate (amines) does this to me - Angela

Absolutely yes! The retrospective memory of my moods and PMS and menopause and on and on says yes. The most recent memory is of eating the sausage from our organically raised pigs. One morning, after I ate, I noticed that I was quite suddenly feeling sad and tired - Sarah

My worst reaction (wanting to die…not really suicidal but just wanting to stop living and can’t stop crying) is from chocolate which I think has amines? I love chocolate and now I won’t touch it because it takes a few days to feel better after eating it – Deb

My husband has had increasingly bad bouts of depression/anger getting steadily worse over recent years. While doing the diet for our son, he reacted to nearly everything…but only the Amines give these symptoms. Not just chocolate either, old meat & bananas also set him off. However his reactions are shorter now if he makes a mistake (only 30mins to couple of hours), and he knows the reason so it helps him cope knowing it’ll wear off – Sam

Tartazine (yellow food colour) makes our son angry. Too many salicylates make the kids very emotional, anxious etc. It’s good you’re investigating the diet side of things 😊 - anon

My dad always had that with beef. Made him feel angry and aggressive - Sharl

Definitely my main symptom, wish I had known in my 20’s what the cause was - Larissa

Definitely amines for me. I'm amines and sals sensitive. Nowhere near as bad these days but amines mess with my head more. Depending on the amines too, some I get brain fog, some make me depressed and others I seem to be ok with. Chocolate and cheese used to give me a physical reaction - infected sinus with extreme fatigue like my body wanted to shut down within 30mins of eating it. Now it’s more depressed/down and cravings especially more chocolate and junk – Amy

My worst one is tomato of any kind. I feel like the bottom has fallen out of my world after I’ve eaten it. Not worth the reaction so try and not touch it. Was in hospital talking to dietitian about what I could eat and she discovered that 95 percent of main meals there had tomatoes! – Lee

Angry amines and sad salicylates for me - Helen

Yep when overloaded I can get this way and also questioned if this has been a lifelong issue as always had unexplained depression and anxiety even as early as i can remember in my childhood - Sara
Wrong food can spiral me into terrible anxiety. I think it's preservatives for me. Takeaway usually, Pizza Hut has set me off badly - Anna

Yes I have mood reactions. So does my son. Without gluten or high salicylates in my diet I am emotionally stable, with them, I was a screaming mess who lived in a constant state of confusion and always felt like a failure because I felt like I wasn’t functioning like everyone else could - Marian

I've been treated for severe post-traumatic stress disorder for years without ever seeing any progress. Last year, I was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). Just 3 days after starting the diet, all the psychological symptoms disappeared. No more death wish, no more dissociation, no more panic attacks, and above all, no more memory loss and, most importantly, my motivation and cravings instantly returned. A rebirth I'd never even hoped to experience. At the slightest dietary lapse, I fall back into a completely different perception of reality.... Dark, dark thoughts for 3 to 4 days, so dark that I forgot that « this » is not reality and that it would pass – Zara (see science links here for instance https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23688533/)

(Howard comment: This blog summarises the knowledge of this real issue with food and depression - with links to factsheets and much more information. Take it seriously and see a good dietitian if you think food might be involved).

[1661] Is anger a side-effect of amines? (facebook thread) (September 2023)

Among the flood of very strong agreement, some other support too:

My daughter is horrific when her amine levels are too high. Uncontrollable anger, incredibly strong, for us it's really important that we keep levels low - Mel

Yes my dietian said effects the neural pathways - Charlie

My daughter gets angry on all amines / histamine and I become really anxious and depressed, also get awful migraines 😢 - Jennie

Yes, biogenic amines can affect moods - Teresa

Yes but salicylate can be even worse - Sue

Absolutely, the theory is brain inflammation. I found the Failsafe community specifically because I googled "why does orange cheese make me angry" - Becky

Yes angry, anxious and depressed - Kay

Yep, I had to increase amines slowly to avoid the angry - Larissa

Not sure if it's amines as I react to all 3 but my temper is much shorter when I've eaten the wrong thing.. my poor kids - Rennie

Hell yes but can also be sals too. When thinking back to being a kid I would literally throw temper tantrums and break stuff in my room like a crazy spoilt child. I wasn’t spoilt or crazy but now believe that uncontrollable rage and always anxious and depressed as a child for no reason was in fact food chemicals and back in the 80’s-90’s gluten intolerance wasn’t even a thing then let alone sals and amine intolerance. So I suspect even though this only showed up aggressively in late 2014 but that I’ve always had food intolerances to some extent - Sara

I get ridiculously tired, like depressed tired – Kerin

See Amines factsheet and also story collection on anger

[1660] Overcoming food intolerance: neuroplasticity and brain retraining (September 2023)

When I came to Jenny’s program I had been living with a debilitating health condition that was having severe adverse impacts on my physical and emotional health for nearly 25 years and it seemed the more I did to try to “fix” it, the worse it got!

I am celebrating many wins already including fewer episodes and reduced levels of pain, a significant reduction in fear about potential triggers and a return to many of the things I was denying myself including introducing many foods back into my diet and activities I used to believe caused me harm.

Funny thing is that I came wanting to heal my physical pain and in the process have delighted in improved relationships and a huge expansion in what I thought was possible for me in living my true nature and purpose including me manifesting an opportunity to share my creative offerings at an upcoming national conference.

Jenny’s program and the learnings I am soaking up were also instrumental in me navigating my father’s recent death with much grace and ease and to embrace supporting his end of life process as an honour and a privilege.

What sets Jenny’s program apart from other programs I have done (and there have been plenty) is that it has provided me with the missing pieces that were holding me back. The group format works well for me in that I’m able to learn and gain my own insights through other's sharing. The twice weekly calls, the recordings, and the guided meditations encourage accountability and a wonderful way to track my success. And Jenny’s lived experience, her depth of knowledge, her personable and inclusive approach and her willingness to make sure that no-one gets left behind makes her program an invaluable investment - Jen K

More information at Jenny Trezise's website www.aurielminds.com.au

See also Brain retraining for fragrance sensitivity and MCS – three failsafers report

[1659] Overcoming food intolerance: neuro linguistic programing NLP (September 2023)

I always got migraines from red wine in my 30s but during early peri menopause at 42 and, after getting chronic, daily migraines from trialing medications for my bipolar type 2, my sister suggested I try the failsafe diet. She was on it for her eczema. It completely cleared my headaches, migraines and, to my surprise, my depression, hot sweats, painful vagina (perimenstral) and needing to pee nightly 8-13 times (UTI type symptoms).

I got on some better meds but I found I was reacting to amines, all but low salicylates and some preservatives so I stayed strict for 3.5yrs. During that time I created the @coach_failsafe page on Insta and tried to inspire others with my cooking. Diet is central to my life and I know a lot of you can understand it’s not an easy diet.

I scoured this group for recipe ideas and for mentions of what could perhaps heal me. Recently I saw mention of the NLP and I got the phone number for Jess.

I contacted her and made an appointment. Initially she assisted me to clear some trauma which was a more pressing issue and equally transformative for my life. Then we got to work on the food intolerances.
I experience this work as a dual visualisation with her, a meditation or mindfulness practice, a type of hypnosis. In this process the higher learnings that the symptoms or the illness is trying to teach you are integrated and your thoughts and behaviour are restructured around these. She works on a conscious and unconscious level. It’s not a science- based approach but because I’ve done intuitive therapies before I am comfortable with this.

She does two sessions, one to gather information and ask questions. Then she goes away and figures out what processes she needs to do. Then you do the second session with her which is the actual process, both of which can take up to two or more hours.

I have been to see her several times now, for different issues, work-related and so on. I was emotional for a few days after one of these sessions because it touched on something deep but the other sessions didn’t bother me much at all. All the work has been absolutely life changing and incredibly positive. My friend used NLP for a muscle strain that wouldn’t go away no matter what therapy he tried. It works.
After the food session I challenged salicylates and had no symptoms!! I was blown away. I meant to challenge amines carefully but waited and went back to eating moderate sals and then accidentally ate a LOT of Cadbury chocolates at work oops 😬 I also had a blowout at a family restaurant event with sausages and anchovies chilli and everything and also: no symptoms!

Talking it over with my RPAH trained dietician we have decided I am fine now to gradually add back in each of the three main chemical group (sals, amines and glutamates) in three stages so that in the slim chance I do react I know which one it was. It’s looking good 😌

I’m still reacting to strong paint fumes and getting eczema from gin but I’m happy to be able to eat a whole food diet. I’ve experienced some miracles recently and I’ll take these wins!

Best of luck if it’s not for you, there are many different paths - Carlos

Don’t forget, you can search for stories/symptoms or scroll through all current stories.

Q: Should we avoid emulsifiers?

A: Many supermarket foods contain emulsifiers and failsafers do not generally avoid them. But continuing negative findings suggest caution.

Two recent studies: this, from the huge French NutriNet-Santé study, found positive associations between risk of cardiovascular disease and intake of five individual and two groups of food additive emulsifiers widely used in industrial foods. https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj-2023-076058 And a second paper focuses on emulsifiers and their Impact on the gut microbiome, permeability, and inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease IBS. https://academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/article/15/6/1068/6041235

What to look out for

339 Sodium phosphate, dibasic, monobasic, tribasic (and probably 340-343)
407 Carrageenan - CAUTION
433 Polysorbate 80 or Polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate - CAUTION
435 Polysorbate 60 or Polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monostearate - CAUTION
436 Polysorbate 65 or Polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan tristearate - CAUTION
460 Cellulose microcrystalline, powdered (anti-caking agent) - CAUTION
461 Methyl cellulose - CAUTION
463 Hydroxypropyl cellulose - CAUTION
464 Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose - CAUTION
465 Methyl ethyl cellulose - CAUTION
466 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose CMC - CAUTION
467 Ethulose (ethylhydroxyethylcellulose) *in pharmaceuticals - CAUTION
468 Sodium croscarmellose (crosslinked sodium carboxymethyl cellulose) *in pharmaceuticals - CAUTION
470 Fatty acid salts of aluminium, ammonia, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium - CAUTION
471 Mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids - CAUTION
472a Acetic and fatty acid esters of glycerol - CAUTION
472b Lactic and fatty acid esters of glycerol - CAUTION
472c Citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol - CAUTION
472e Diacetyltartaric and fatty acid esters of glycerol - CAUTION
472f Mixed tartaric, acetic and fatty acid esters of glycerol or tartaric, acetic and fatty acid esters of glycerol (mixed) - CAUTION

And see blog Are there any reports of food causing colitis?

Q: Have you got a recent summary of research on food and autism?

A: Yes, you can now view the video prepared for the Global Autism Summit 2021 (22:00) and see all scientific references

Frequently Asked Questions are the result of a lot of work by many people. Over 322,000 people have viewed them!

You can search all or scroll through them all classified as follows:

• Additive questions
• Diet questions
• Food and product questions
• Graphic answers for the 9 most common questions
• Medications and supplement questions
• Perfume and chemical sensitivity questions
• Personal care and household cleaning questions
• Support questions
• Symptom questions

Here are graphics for the 9 most common questions

BOOK REVIEW: Ultra Processed People: Why do we all eat stuff that isn’t food...and why can’t we stop?

Bestseller Dr Chris van Tulleken, one of the world’s leading UPF experts, exposes how corporations seeking profit above all, supermarkets seeking immortal foods and jaw-dropping government dysregulation and inaction have corrupted our food supply, damaged children's brains and over-sized most humans.

UPF is not just junk food, nor is it just fat, salt or sugar, it is the ultraprocessing. His rules are that if you can’t make it in your kitchen, it is UPF. If it has a health claim or added flavours, it is probably UPF. It is not food but “an industrially produced edible substance”.

As one of Australia’s early food technologists, I am angry and ashamed that we have come to this point but glad to see a wonderful and easily-read book about it. Read it! – reviewed by Dr Howard Dengate.

Misophonia: what’s behind the phenomenon that makes certain sounds unbearable?

We know that some people find that food affects their hyperacusis (extreme sensitivity to sound if eating the wrong thing - I am one) but that is different from misophonia, which causes some sounds make your skin crawl and react with anxiety, anger, panic or shame. How many food intolerant people are affected? Please let us know here if this resonates with you....

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/17/misophonia-phenomenon-sounds-unbearable-new-book-dr-jane-gregory and https://fedup.com.au/information/factsheets/factsheets-by-symptom/sensitivity-to-sound-hyperacusis

Overcoming food intolerance

Sometimes side-effects of food have a psychological aspect that needs to be addressed too and there is increasing interest in this. For instance there are two reports in this newsletter on neurolinguistic programing [1659], and on brain retraining [1660]. Education in Nutrition, a dietitian education site, has highlighted the evidence-based therapy of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing for emotional eating:

“Many clients present to us troubled with emotional eating, knowing what the ‘right thing to do is’, but struggling on a day-to-day basis in achieving change. This is due to the subconscious mind playing a great part in emotional eating, and without addressing this, it can be very difficult to maintain sustainable changes”. This short video shows EMDR in action.

STOP PRESS: California bans four food additives linked to cancer and other health risks

In September 2023, California banned Red dye no. 3 (127 Erythrosine, red #3, CI 45430, artificial AVOID but permitted in Australia/NZ) and Propylparaben (216 Propylparaben or Propyl-p-hydroxy-benzoate - only permitted in food colours but watch out for them in medications - CAUTION). Plus two others not used in food in Australia/NZ: Potassium Bromate and Brominated vegetable oil.

Sue Dengate's famous presentation “Fed Up with Children’s Behaviour” view for free (1hr 12mins).

Irene says “ladies show your men the video as they will rarely read the book. Watching an hour of a DVD is more comprehensible to the male brain. That is how I got my husband to finally understand our son’s behaviour and to support what I am doing with him. He now has the book in his van and every spare moment he has, he reads it" - from story [717]

Subtitled version in 6 languages (English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish) can also be viewed for free. (The Bonus material of interviews with parents can only be seen in purchased version)

Ultra-processed food raises risk of heart attack and stroke

Two recent large studies show focus on the risk of UPFs. High blood pressure, or hypertension, increases the risk of serious heart and circulatory conditions including heart disease, peripheral arterial disease, and vascular dementia. It does not all appear to be due to high levels of salt, sugar and fat, processing itself and additives are also now being taken seriously. About time. Read more https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/aug/27/ultra-processed-food-raises-risk-of-heart-attack-and-stroke-two-studies-show and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36918266/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36866803/

Licorice toxicity

A review paper about liquorice toxicity published this month warns that “Although the clinical history is essential for Liquorice Toxicity diagnosis, liquorice overuse is often underreported or even overlooked”, so it is good to see doctors told to look for the side-effects of a food chemical that can cause ADHD symptoms in children if eaten during pregnancy. See our updated blog Dangers of Licorice and a new story about liquorice as a possible cause of dizziness (vertigo) [1664] Ceccuzzi G et al, Liquorice Toxicity: A Comprehensive Narrative Review. Nutrients. 2023 Sep 5;15(18):3866. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10537237/

The complete list of food additives, with those to avoid highlighted, has just been updated to the latest information.

So Good Vanilla Bliss icecream should have been available from July 2023 from independent retailers (IGA, Metcash, Ritchie) and by October from Coles and Woolworths! The Chocolate flavour (for those who can tolerate amines!) will follow if demand justifies it, so get buying all those who have been asking us to chase Sanitarium.

Food Intolerance Resources from RPAH at https://www.slhd.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/resources/foodintol/resources.html

The following resources have been made available on the condition that they are for personal use only and may not be distributed:

• Elimination Diet shopping guide
• NSW & ACT butchers
• Toiletries & Personal care products
• Medications
• Nutritional Supplements

NOTE the failsafe shopping lists on www.fedup.com.au is being regularly updated to reflect changes. If using the shopping lists, check for a current date at the bottom of the list.

The failsafe sausages list has been updated again. Please email directly with changes, preferably in the format in the list, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. People continue to rave about the real flavour of these sausages!

The completely revised and updated Friendly Food from RPAH is now available at $38.00 including post and GST from the Food Intolerance Network store

SPECIAL OFFER because it costs no more to post these:

• Friendly Food (at cost) $38.00 incl postage & GST
• add Fed Up for only $18.00 (32% discount)
• add Failsafe Cookbook for only $27.00 (22% discount)
• add Fed Up and Failsafe Cookbook for only $45.00 (25% discount)
• add DVD Fed Up with Children's Behaviour for only $14.00 (45% discount)
• add 'The Set' (Fed Up, Failsafe Cookbook & DVD) for only $60.00 (25% discount)

If you want some inspiration, try the COURAGE AWARD story collection - 40 pages of brilliance!

Most recent story collection: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (14 pages). Other recent collection doctors and food intolerance and violence and aggression – if anyone wants to help update a story collection (all you need is time and some word processing skills) please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Factsheets provide science-based access to information on added and natural chemicals, on symptoms and support. See full list of over 100 factsheets and remember that you can use the search function to search all factsheets (Information>Factsheets>Search all factsheets)

Don't forget that there is great collection of short videos to help answer your questions and understand food intolerance.

Thanks for your continuing support of each other!

Dietitians

• We are pleased to advise that well-known dietitian Liz Beavis is now focussed fully on food intolerance. See contact details.
  
  
• Remember that we always recommend that people use one of our supportive and experienced dietitians for best results. Do it once and do it properly and then you will know which food intolerances you have and how to manage them. There is now a list of dietitians able to consult in languages other than English, and overseas.
  
  
• For all failsafe-friendly dietitians, see the regularly updated http://fedup.com.au/information/support/dietitians - there is no longer any need to email for this list. Let us know This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you find others not listed.
  
  
• Many dietitians are now online and the cost (typically $80 per half hour) can be rebated from most health funds. Ask them when making contact. As one dietitian said,”I use Coviu which is a video conferencing service developed by the CSIRO for Australian allied health workers. It is encrypted end to end so it has a very high privacy. I can show education videos, share documents, patients can fill out forms for me and I can see them in real time so it is going really well”.

Diet not working as well as you'd hoped? One tiny mistake can make a huge difference. For fine-tuning, see the Checklist of common mistakes. Readers tell us this list is very useful. You can also ask for our Salicylate, Amine and Glutamate mistakes sheets This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Online support

• Sue Dengate facebook group (over 20,700 members, open forum meaning the public can see your posts).
• Closed failsafe group https://www.facebook.com/groups/352777968116759/ with over 5,400 members (the public cannot see your posts)
  
  
• USA facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/284241571702972/ Note that this group has changed its name to Failsafe USA Products.
  NZ facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1011400158967643/ (membership preference given to those living in New Zealand)
  UK facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/380347182034474/ again accessible
• tweet as @failsafers (note the plural). See all tweets https://twitter.com/failsafers
  
  The Food Intolerance Network website has had over 13 million visits
  

DVD "Fed Up with Children’s Behaviour”

• FREE to view online https://youtu.be/3U0Hx7m3i4s
  
• subtitles in six languages viewable FREE here https://fedup.com.au/information/support/video-resources.
  
  
• BUY here in PAL and NTSC formats (but NTSC does not have subtitles) - NTSC format DVDs are at a reduced price of only $14.50 including postage through the shop on www.fedup.com.au.
  

Brochures

• available in many languages in a printer-friendly format (thanks to Failsafe members for translating!). Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you can help with other languages. Brochure in Chinese. Latest brochure in Finnish.

Newsletters

• All Failsafe Newsletters can be searched and printed. There is a wealth of research, issue discussion, recipes, personal reports and recipes now available in one place. But some of the links are out of date and you must always check current products rather than relying on historical information.

Success story collections

• These are the most popular downloads from the website, organised by symptom and by additive. The latest collections are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (14 pages), violence and aggression (54 pages) and on doctors and food intolerance (7 pages)
  
  
• The Food Intolerance Network strongly supports the peer-reviewed publication of evidence regarding the effects of salicylates on health, behaviour and learning and acknowledges that more research needs to be published, particularly using dietary salicylates. However the very foundation of science is observation and these observations over many years show an astonishing and convincing range of real symptoms. We hope that they may assist in stimulating further research publication.

Reintroduction guidelines

• for people who are extra sensitive, the new RPAH reintroduction guidelines recommend much smaller servings of salicylate and amine containing foods than previously, see reader comment below. Available on request from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you so much for the new RPAH reintroduction recommendations. I now understand why when I tried to ascertain my tolerance levels and did as my dietician recommended (try 1/2 a cup of salicylates) that my symptoms returned very quickly. ½ a cup is 100 times ¼ of a teaspoon, and given my scent problems I’m probably highly sensitive. Now I can try again. - failsafer, NZ

**WARNING** www.food-intolerance-network.com is a spam website funded by the shadowy “Society for Public Health” about which no information is available. We think it is a food industry spam site and complaints about stealing our name have been unanswered. Use www.realfoodintolerancenetwork.com to find us directly.

A video-graphic introduction to food intolerance from one of our Network members (2 mins): Food intolerances, what are they? Thanks to Steph Aromataris www.stepharomataris.com

Privacy statement about emails and reports: Your email addresses and stories are never shared with anyone without your express permission. Names in stories are often changed to better protect the privacy of those providing them but the original emails are held in a secure location to provide evidence that these are real reports and that express permission to share them has been granted.

The FAILSAFE Newsletter is available free by email. You can subscribe or unsubscribe here https://www.fedup.com.au/join-failsafe-newsletter-subscriber-list-3

Sue Dengate’s books and DVD, failsafe magnifying card sulphite test strips and ionizing air purifiers are available through the shop on www.fedup.com.au

Special offer for USA and Canada: Fed Up With Children' Behaviour (NTSC format) - DVD at $US14.50 - go to http://www.bookch.com and search for "Sue Dengate"

Fed Up and the Failsafe Cookbook are now available as an ebook: www.amazon.com for Kindle, www.dymocks.com.au in ePub version suitable for Tablet PCs, PCs, Macs, Laptops, www.ebooks.com in ePub for digital and iPhone/iPad.

Sue Dengate’s Fed Up with Food Intolerance - a personal story (Australia USA and many other countries)

• NOW AVAILABLE AS A PRINTED BOOK $A14.85 incl GST in Australia, different prices in other countries - lend it to your friends! (ISBN: 979-8845846761 ASIN: B0B92L1L1L)
• STILL AVAILABLE in ebook only $A4.56 (ISBN: 978-0992320706 ASIN: B00I8D5DNU)

"Of all your books, your book Fed Up with Food Intolerance is my favourite ­ I just couldn’t put it down" - from Fed Up Roadshow 2015

Look inside



This is the story that helped thousands of parents and adults understand this baffling disorder.

Buy direct at https://store16061019.ecwid.com/
Download a sample for Kindle (.mobi) or for other ereaders (.epub).
Also available through Amazon for Kindle

Disclaimer: the information given is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with your doctor for possible underlying illness. Before beginning dietary investigation, consult a dietician with an interest in food intolerance. Information is drawn from the scientific literature, web research, group members and personal enquiry; while all care is taken, information is not warranted as accurate and the Food Intolerance Network and Sue Dengate cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions.

© Sue Dengate 2023 (text) PO Box 718 WOOLGOOLGA NSW 2456, Australia but material can be reproduced with acknowledgement. Thanks to the many members who have written, phoned and contributed to this newsletter and particularly to Rona, Teresa and Tracy for their help with recipes, facebook and story collections. Further reading and viewing: Fed Up and The Failsafe Cookbook by Sue Dengate (Random House Australia), Fed Up with Children’s Behaviour (DVD) by Sue Dengate

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