Posted by Elizabeth on March 26, 1999, at 3:06:14
In reply to Re: MAOI Diet, posted by Dr. Bob on March 24, 1999, at 22:10:14
Dr. Bob says:
> But remember that what's "just fine" for one person could be a real problem for someone else...Yes. Obviously I'm not talking about foods that might be fine for some people, but rather, about foods that have never been shown to be harmful to *anyone*. Specifically, what I meant was, there is no evidence that the foods in question were responsible for the reactions described in the case reports (if they were indeed reactions - panic attacks, migraine headaches, etc. can mimic hypertensive episodes to varying degrees, and often the documentation has been very poor), no reason to suppose that these foods *might* be harmful (they don't contain significant amounts of tyramine, dopa, etc.), and no rise in BP is observed experimentally.
One harmful thing about diets that list safe foods as being unsafe is that when patients discover they can "cheat" and eat a safe food, they stop taking the diet seriously, which can be dangerous, obviously, since some of the foods listed really can interact with the MAOI in a serious way.
Another harm caused by overly restrictive diets is that they scare people away from these potentially useful drugs.
poster:Elizabeth
thread:3352
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/4033.html