Until quite recently, it would not have occurred to anyone to look for the relationship between pancreatic inflammation and food allergy. But today, doctors are convinced of the close correlation of these diseases. What made the doctors so radically change their minds?
The causes of the inflammatory process in the pancreas have been thoroughly studied by modern medicine. The main provocateurs of pancreatitis have long been considered alcohol and cholelithiasis. Allergy has always been considered as a concomitant disease, which does not share common "roots" with pancreatitis.
Pediatricians-gastroenterologists were the first to pay attention to these diseases: pediatric pancreatitis most often developed in allergic children with a normal function of the biliary tract, and alcohol was simply not included in the children's diet. Later, doctors-scientists understood this phenomenon.
Biological substances released into the bloodstream when food allergies occur actively influence the tone of the blood vessels of the pancreas, thereby disrupting the circulation of blood in it. This causes deterioration in the supply of the parenchyma of the gland, which provokes chronic allergic pancreatitis.
Allergic pancreatitis in adults
The main causes of pancreatitis in adults are gallbladder and bile duct disease, diet, alcohol. But the allergy is still not written off. The resulting reaction may not be able to provoke a primary attack of acute inflammation of the pancreas, but the exacerbation and progression of an already existing chronic inflammation - will fully provide.
The pancreas is designed in such a way that the slightest violation of the circulation process provokes swelling of the tissues, drastically reducing the access of nutrients and oxygen in them. This body has quite high compensatory capabilities, so there is no sharp disruption in the form of an attack of acute pancreatitis.
Chronic dysfunction of the blood circulation always leads to a decrease in the exocrine function - a decrease in the production of enzymes. Enzyme deficiency entails a violation in the process of digestion, which spurs the release of allergens into the blood. Thus, the inverse relationship between pancreatic inflammation and allergy is explained.