By Noel Treglia, FNP-C, PMHNP
Have you ever wondered why it seems like more people—especially children—are struggling with digestive problems, food sensitivities, allergies, inflammation, fatigue, skin conditions, and other chronic symptoms?
There isn’t one simple answer. Genetics matter. Our environment matters. Stress, medications, infections, sleep, movement, and many other factors matter.
But there is another piece of the puzzle that deserves attention:
Our food supply has changed dramatically.
The food available to us today is not necessarily nutritionally identical to the food our grandparents ate. Modern agriculture has allowed us to grow more food, transport it farther, and keep it fresh longer—but those advances have also changed how food is grown, raised, processed, and ultimately consumed.
There is evidence that the nutrient composition of some crops has changed over time.
One frequently cited study compared USDA nutritional data for 43 garden crops between 1950 and 1999. Researchers found statistically reliable declines in several nutrients, including protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, and vitamin C. The researchers suggested that one possible explanation was the “dilution effect” created when crops are bred for characteristics such as faster growth, larger size, and greater yield.
This doesn’t mean fruits and vegetables are no longer nutritious—they absolutely are.
It means food quality matters.
The way food is grown, the health of the soil, the variety of the plant, when it is harvested, how long it is stored, and how heavily it is processed can all influence what ultimately ends up on our plates.
Modern agriculture commonly uses pesticides and herbicides to control insects, weeds, fungi, and other threats to crops.
The EPA regulates pesticide residues and establishes maximum allowable residue levels for foods. Importantly, simply detecting pesticide residue on a food does not mean that the food is unsafe; the EPA evaluates pesticide exposures and establishes tolerances intended to protect human health, including additional consideration for infants and children.
At the same time, many families understandably want to minimize unnecessary chemical exposure when possible.
That does not require becoming afraid of food.
It can simply mean making thoughtful choices—washing produce thoroughly, eating a varied diet, purchasing organic foods when practical, growing some foods at home, buying locally when possible, and prioritizing whole foods over heavily processed foods.
This is another area where there is a lot of misinformation.
Certain steroid hormone implants are FDA-approved for use in beef cattle and sheep to promote growth and improve feed efficiency. These include estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and synthetic versions of these hormones.
However, growth-promoting steroid hormone implants are not approved for poultry, pigs, veal calves, or dairy cows in the United States. FDA-approved animal drugs must undergo safety evaluation before approval.
For families who prefer to minimize exposure or support different farming practices, options such as organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, and minimally processed animal products may still be personal food choices.
The important thing is understanding what food labels actually mean rather than allowing marketing—or fear—to make our decisions for us.
One of my greatest concerns isn’t one individual pesticide or ingredient.
It’s the overall shift away from whole foods and toward ultra-processed foods.
Ultra-processed foods now account for more than half of the calories consumed in the United States. They are often higher in refined carbohydrates, added sugars, sodium, unhealthy fats, and various additives while providing less fiber and fewer naturally occurring nutrients than minimally processed foods.
Emerging research is also examining how diets high in ultra-processed foods may influence the gut microbiome, intestinal inflammation, and intestinal barrier function. Some food additives, including certain emulsifiers and sweeteners, have demonstrated effects on the microbiome and intestinal permeability in experimental research, although much of the mechanistic evidence still comes from animal or laboratory studies rather than human clinical trials.
That distinction matters.
We don’t need to exaggerate the science to recognize a simple nutritional truth:
Our bodies generally do better when most of our nutrition comes from real, nutrient-dense food.
Your gastrointestinal tract is lined by a sophisticated intestinal barrier.
Think of it as a carefully controlled security system.
It needs to allow nutrients to cross into the body while helping keep potentially harmful substances where they belong.
The intestinal barrier works together with:
When this system becomes disrupted, intestinal permeability can increase.
This is commonly called “leaky gut.”
Increased intestinal permeability is a real biological phenomenon and has been studied in several gastrointestinal and inflammatory conditions. However, “leaky gut syndrome” should not be used as a catch-all diagnosis for every symptom or chronic illness.
Diet is only one factor that can influence the intestinal environment. Infections, medications, alcohol, stress, inflammatory conditions, microbiome disturbances, and other exposures may also play a role.
A food allergy and a food sensitivity or intolerance are not necessarily the same thing.
A classic food allergy typically involves an immune response—often IgE-mediated—and symptoms can occur rapidly. Reactions can include hives, swelling, vomiting, wheezing, difficulty breathing, or even anaphylaxis.
Food sensitivities and intolerances are much less straightforward.
People may associate certain foods with symptoms such as:
The difficult part is determining whether the food itself is actually responsible.
This is an area where we need to be particularly careful.
Many commercial “food sensitivity” blood panels measure IgG antibodies against foods. Although these tests are commonly marketed in functional and integrative medicine, major allergy organizations do not currently recommend IgG food testing as a validated diagnostic test for food sensitivities or food intolerance.
IgG antibodies can simply indicate that the immune system has been exposed to a food, and in some circumstances IgG may actually be associated with tolerance rather than an adverse reaction.
That doesn’t mean someone’s symptoms aren’t real.
It means we shouldn’t remove 20, 30, or 40 nutritious foods from someone’s diet solely because a commercial panel colored them red.
Testing can sometimes provide information worth discussing in the context of the entire clinical picture, but a laboratory result should never replace the patient history.
One of the simplest tools can also be one of the most useful:
Keep a food-and-symptom diary.
For several weeks, write down:
What did you eat?
Record meals, snacks, drinks, condiments, supplements, and major ingredients.
When did you eat it?
Timing can help identify patterns.
How did you feel afterward?
Track digestion, bowel movements, bloating, reflux, headaches, skin symptoms, energy, sleep, and other recurring symptoms.
Then look for patterns rather than isolated events.
If symptoms repeatedly occur after the same food, that information becomes much more meaningful.
When appropriate, a clinician or registered dietitian may recommend a structured elimination and reintroduction process. The goal should ultimately be to determine the least restrictive diet a person can comfortably tolerate, not to continuously eliminate more foods.
For children especially, unnecessarily restrictive diets can create nutritional deficiencies and feeding difficulties.
When families begin learning about pesticides, additives, food sensitivities, and gut health, it is easy to become overwhelmed.
I don’t want families to become afraid of food.
I want them to become intentional about food.
You don’t have to eat perfectly.
Instead, start asking:
How close is this food to its natural form?
An apple is an apple.
A blueberry is a blueberry.
An egg is an egg.
Chicken is chicken.
A sweet potato is a sweet potato.
The longer an ingredient list becomes—and the harder those ingredients are to recognize—the further we may be getting from the nutrient-dense foods our bodies were designed to utilize.
Build the majority of your family’s diet around:
Variety is important, too.
Different plant foods provide different fibers and phytochemicals that help support a diverse gut ecosystem.
You don’t have to completely eliminate packaged foods, birthday cake, restaurant meals, or the occasional treat.
It’s what we do consistently that matters.
Food isn’t simply calories.
Every meal provides your body with amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and thousands of naturally occurring compounds that influence human physiology.
Food helps provide the raw materials necessary to build neurotransmitters, produce hormones, support immune function, maintain the intestinal barrier, generate cellular energy, and repair tissues.
That’s why food choice matters.
Instead of asking only:
“How many calories are in this?”
Start asking:
“What is this food giving my body?”
Our goal shouldn’t be perfection.
Our goal should be to give our bodies—and especially our children’s developing bodies—the highest-quality building materials we reasonably can.
Start with real food. Choose quality when you can. Eat a variety of colors. Pay attention to how your body responds. And remember that protecting your gut is an investment in your overall health.
This article is intended for educational purposes and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
