What to do when elimination diets cause unwanted weight loss

[VintageMom]

My 13-year-old son has been diagnosed with a long list of food allergies, including gluten, dairy, eggs, corn, molds, apples, carrots, cashews, and much more. He has been following an elimination diet for several months, and is miserable because of the extreme lack of foods available to him. He was quite thin to begin with (5'6", 115 lbs), and has lost 5 - 10 lbs since. He had very mild symptoms prior to his diagnosis - primarily intestinal gas and loose stools. Unfortunately, despite his heroic effort to live on rice cakes, there have been no discernible changes in his symptoms or his overall health. While we understand that ingesting food allergens over the long term can cause serious health consequences, it is difficult to see him so uncomfortable and losing weight. Any insight?

[Dr Adam Fox]

I wouldn't want to speculate based on a few lines of history but definitely feel that your son should be under the care of a paediatric dietician and gastroenterologist. Withthe right dietetic input, even exclusion diets that you describe can still provide enough nutrition for growth.