Obese, Malnutrition, and Allergic Response

I am currently having an "argument".. nicely termed as discussion with a doctor about such matters as Food Allergies being able to cause obesity.

The Doc thinks I'm nuts. I know I am right. So we're "discussing". Actually I think its more, I'm discussing and he's smiling and nodding as one would do with a child talking about seeing aliens in the livingroom.

And while I could put at least 10 links in here about malnutrition, starvation, metabolism, allergic reactions, digestion, Celiac, etc. I'm tired of researching for today. So you'll just have to make do with this.

Let me see if I can explain. As in Celiac disease, what happens when such a patient eats gluten? Their body reacts, attacks it (even mistakenly attacks itself), and they don't digest food properly. They become malnutritioned. Even though they are eating, their body is starving itself because it is unable to digest.

What happens to a body that has been starved? When it finally gets food, it whisks it away and holds it as fat just in case of further starvings. Its how our bodies are built. Is it not? And if such a person is continuously periodically starved for a few days then fed, then starved, then fed, would they not actually gain weight as a result?

Now consider a person who is mildly allergic to a common food, lets say milk for argument. If they eat something with milk in it, their body reacts, attacks it, and they dont' digest the food properly. The body doesn't digest the food but escorts it out of the body as fast as it can, thus starving the body of any nutrients from that eating session.

Now you'd think people would notice that when they eat milk they get sick, but even IgE reactions can take hours. And things like diarrhea, acid reflux, nausea.. are easy to explain away as over eating. And if your body is constantly starving, it would be easy to overeat. And what if the person eats milk at their next meal? It becomes an endless cycle where the body adjusts to absorb what it can, when it can, and holds onto it for dear life.

Footnote: "Type I hypersensitivity is also known as immediate or anaphylactic hypersensitivity. The reaction may involve skin (urticaria and eczema), eyes (conjunctivitis), nasopharynx (rhinorrhea, rhinitis), bronchopulmonary tissues (asthma) and gastrointestinal tract (gastroenteritis). The reaction may cause a range of symptoms from minor inconvenience to death. The reaction usually takes 15 - 30 minutes from the time of exposure to the antigen, although sometimes it may have a delayed onset (10 - 12 hours)."