What is it about beetroot that is causing a reaction?

[EloysH]

Hey 

We have a had a reaction to beetroot twice now, DS2 woke all night long and had a terrible slurry red beetroot poo at 6am, and an immediate contact rash on his face.   I am puzzled as to what it is about beetroot that is casuing hin grief,.  If I knew, then I maybe able to avoid other foods with the same properties.   Any ideas?

The only thing i can think of is moderate salicylate, (he has a salicylate sensitivity) however it doesn't make sense as he eats unrestricted quantities of moderates and some highs without issue.  But both dietician and naturopath have said not all sals are equal.

[deb]

Huh. I have learned a LOT about beets this morning (and as an aside, a good bit about asparagus LOL).

I did find this, which I did not know about: "A novel gene (RS2) has been isolated from a Beta vulgaris (cv. Regina) cDNA library. The expression of this gene was enhanced in the mature storage organ as compared to leaf tissue. The protein encoded by this gene was found to be alanine‐ and glutamic acid‐rich and it resembles members of the latex allergen Hev b 5 family. " (emphasis mine)

I don't know if genetically modified foods are grown where you live - I lose track - but here in the States, apparently a LOT of the beets grown here for sugar are GMO beets. I don't know if that would make the difference (like when some earlier researchers tried putting Brazil nut genes into peas and thankfully stopped due to allergy concerns), but it *might* be a factor.

[sherry lynn]

Just curiously reading along. I did not really know that "not all sals are equal." Now, obviously I know that a low/mod/high are different in that sense. Maybe it has something to do along the lines of Sals, but for what every reason this just causes a major reaction. I tried to give beet to E once and he spit it all over me.
On a funny note. Chris's grandma told me the story about trying to give beets to her sons as babies and they did the same thing   I just wanted to try it out. I'm assuming you add sugar, etc to yours to make them yummy

That's interesting about the genetic idea. Too.

[huntersmummyinoz]

K has reacted twice to beetroot too!! i'm wondering if it is the colouring?? i keep trying to expand his mod sals tolerance and def coming up stumps on beets!! i'm just leaving them out altogether now.

[EloysH]

Thanks Deb for researching this, you are too kind, really     So it seems it could be an allergy type food.  I was thinking along the lines of the red colour having something to do with it, the natural chemicals that make it red, so to speak.

Sherry, too funny about the beetroot story   

Kirry, - well well, very interesting to hear that K can't tolerate it too!

It's a shame, K really loved the beetroot, but we are leaving it out for now.   On a brighter note it seems that K can toelrate all forms of corn - corn cake, corn meal tortilla, fresh corn.  The jury is out on coconut oil/milk/cream though.

On another note, we had a really long NW last night with K.  We think it's the reflux flaring (his appetite is down, we see him doing wet burps and being cranky about it for the past two days). We accidentally ran his suspension 1 day over the expiry date and also its went on a 5 hour trip twice with an ice pack so it's probably that, so going to put him back on full dose, (he was on 3/4 for 3-4 weeks there).  Pretty frustrating.  There are also some foods that could be casuing trouble, like coconut milk and oil, but we will have to re-trial those when he is reflux free  Will this boy every be meds free? its seems a long way off now.

[huntersmummyinoz]

do you use red cabbage much? as i would think a similar colouring would be in that tho a lesser amount

yay to the corn!! when travelling with losec, we usually either pre-order to pick up as soon as we get back, or if only a few days away, will get a new bottle and leave in the fridge before we go as noticed we got flares after putting it on ice for a while too. (K currently has gastro  so there goes any new foods for him for a while!)

sherry, we do roasted beetroot, beetroot risotto (hunter's latest favourite is 'pink magic risotto') or beetroot chips (flat/round ones like crisps). nice in salads too (grated fresh, or roasted and cut into to chunks).

[EloysH]

I don't use it often, maybe once a fortnight.  It doesn't seem to unsettle him. He has had it since he was about 8 months, I used to use it alot more regularly back then when he would only tolerate low salicylates.

[Buntybear]

Hi, I don't know the answer but was it raw beettroot or that pre cooked stuff? Pickled? Definately the red passes straight through into the poo. Adults and kids alike!

[deb]

Hi, I don't know the answer but was it raw beettroot or that pre cooked stuff? Pickled? Definately the red passes straight through into the poo. Adults and kids alike!

And in many cases, the pee as well! We've had a good year for beets this year, so there have been a number of occasions where my heart was in my throat....and then I remembered we'd had beets the day before. LOL

[EloysH]

roasted organic beetroot.  Yeah I would expect the poo to be red, but it doesn't explain the crying all night long 

[sherry lynn]

I stumbled upon this, does this help:
Beetroot    
boiled    0.18
Beetroot    canned, Golden Circle    0.32
Beetroot    fresh    0.11

What is the usual count for that group of Sals

[huntersmummyinoz]

there have been a number of occasions where my heart was in my throat....and then I remembered we'd had beets the day before. LOL

so been there done that!!

ds2's reaction i take from mucousy poops the next day tho, not the colour. and unsettled behaviour too.

sherry, moderate sals vary from 0.10 to 0.40 or 0.50 (i cant quite remember which...), but that means fresh beets are pretty low within the moderates group of veggies, hence one of the reasons i tried them with K as still cant get him past 3tbs moderate sals. most of which he is now refusing after being ill with gastro so i am dreading that we are going to have to go even lower than that to get him back on track, sigh.

[sherry lynn]

only 3 tbs, wow... such a long road isn't it. I hate to think what it is going to be for Lyle.

Emory seems fine with Sals.

[EloysH]

Well I am waiting to try more sals but we need to sleep train DS2 AGAIN.  His reflux is back under control but props aren't.  I spent from 5:30am till 7am holding him in  a chair today and DH spent 4:30 - 5:30am holdin him and putting him in the cot.....    So once we can know that he is an inde sleeper again we will be able to know if the long Nw's are food related.  such a long frustrating road!   His only symptom for food intolerance is NW'ing at the moment as we are not risking big quantities.