# Question about food allergies and tics **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-food-allergies-and-tics/373933 "2006-09-24T11:30:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-food-allergies-and-tics/373933/1 "2006-09-24T11:30:46Z")
I know that some foods have been found to exacerbate the symptoms of movement disorders like Tourett’s. Does anyone know what foods these are? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-food-allergies-and-tics/373933/2 "2006-09-24T15:02:32Z")
Interesting. I have Tourrette’s and haven’t heard about this (or noticed it in my own behavior). ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-food-allergies-and-tics/373933/3 "2006-09-24T20:51:08Z")
There are a few papers, mostly from the 1980’s, purporting to show an association between low levels of tryptophan in the blood and Tourette’s syndrome. [Here is an example](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=2389798&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_docsum). One implication from this type of observation, _may_ be that dietary supplementation with tryptopahn _might_ be of benefit in Tourette’s. [Here is a link to the section on dietary sources of tryptophan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan#Dietary_sources) in the main Wikipedia entry on tryptophan. Given the absence of much contemporary scientific literature on the subject, and the inherent oversimplification of the relationship between brain, behaviour, and diet in believing that macronutrients significantly affect something like Tourette’s, I am more than sceptical. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-food-allergies-and-tics/373933/4 "2006-09-24T21:29:53Z")
Over the past five-six years, I have noticed that after eating certain foods, I develop nervous tics, such as blinking, hand waving, head banging, and rocking. The onset generally takes a day after ingestion of these “trigger” foods, and they stay with me for a couple of days. I don’t know if I fit the criterion for a movement disorder, since I haven’t asked a doctor about it. I was just curious if other people have noticed similar symptoms. The foods I have flagged as “trigger” are limited in number, but do not appear to be similar to one another, at least superficially. Sweet and sour sauce (which I had yesterday…and I’ve been ticking all over the place since ☹ ) and pizza sauce (especially the kind at restaurants) are the big ones. Without fail, I will tic if I eat them. I suspect nacho Doritos too, especially the generic brand that Foodtown sells, as well as ketchup. I don’t know enough about food science to know what ingredients these foods might have in common. Maybe I’m reactive to a bunch of different things? Would an allergist be able to help me pinpoint which foods to avoid? I really do think I’m experiencing a type of allergy, and that my behavior is a manifestation of physiology rather than psychology. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-food-allergies-and-tics/373933/5 "2006-09-24T22:27:59Z")
It is unlikely to be an allergy, because food allergy has some very distinct symptoms that are not at all what you describe. Could food be a trigger for another condition? I’m way too much not a doctor to know. Based on the foods you mention, though, they tend to be foods that have monosodium glutamate (MSG) and those trigger my sensitivity to that additive, which manifests in me getting canker sores. Your nervous tics, whatever their cause, sound serious enough to see a doctor about.