At her worst, Bailey Kreinbrink was sleeping for 17 hours a day and suffering such severe pain that even a single bite of food could leave her in agony.
The Georgia student had been plagued by unexplained health problems since her teens, including joint pain, migraines and debilitating bloating.
By her early twenties, almost anything she ate – from chicken and vegetables to bread and smoothies – could trigger excruciating pain and episodes in which she felt unable to move for up to two hours.
Her heart would sometimes race to 200 beats per minute, while even gentle exercise could leave her bedbound for days.
‘I would eat any food and it would feel like you poured acid down my spine. I just wanted to rip my skin off,’ Bailey, now 28, says to the Daily Mail. ‘My body was shutting down.’
Despite barely being able to eat, she had gained 50lb, and doctors struggled to establish what was wrong.
Food sensitivity tests suggested she reacted to around 30 different foods, but cutting them out brought little improvement.
Then, during a family vacation to Italy in 2022, Bailey made an extraordinary discovery.
Bailey Kreinbrink (right, with her parents) could barely eat or get out of bed when her family went on a cruise to Italy that inspired an unlikely experiment
She had always noticed that she felt better when visiting the country, so decided to test whether she could tolerate the foods that made her ill back home.
To her astonishment, she says she was able to eat all 30 without suffering a reaction. Her energy also began to return.
But when she returned to Georgia and tried the same foods again, every one triggered her symptoms.
‘How could you have the same potato here and there or a tomato here and there, but only be able to eat one and not the other?’ she says.
Determined to discover what was happening, Bailey returned to Italy in May 2023, this time for six weeks on the Amalfi Coast as part of her master’s program.
Her plan was simple: eat the foods she believed were making her ill in America and see whether the improvement continued.
And this time, she wasn’t restricting herself to vegetables and other supposedly healthy foods.
Breakfast often consisted of coffee, biscotti and cereal. During the day, she ate Nutella sandwiches and pizza topped with burrata, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Dinner was pasta almost every night, with gelato somewhere along the way.
‘It’s the type of food that around here we think of as indulgent, carb-heavy and unhealthy to an extent,’ she says.
Yet Bailey claims that within weeks, the symptoms which had dominated her life for five years had disappeared.
‘All of my symptoms went completely away,’ she says.
During the final week of her stay, she even ran a 5K race – an extraordinary turnaround for someone who had previously struggled to walk around the block.
When she called her mother to tell her, her mother burst into tears telling her: ‘Oh my gosh, we finally have our answer.’
Bailey also says she eventually lost the 50lb she had gained during her illness, although she believes much of the weight had been caused by inflammation and fluid retention.
Convinced that something about Italian food was responsible, she returned to America with a suitcase packed with pasta and pesto.
Despite not being able to eat much, Bailey had gained 50lbs (pictured left). She told the Daily Mail that after adopting an Italian diet, the weight quickly fell off (right)
‘I decided I am not going to eat American food again,’ she said. ‘I have my life back – why would I want to do that again?’
But what exactly was making the difference?
Bailey’s experience reflects a phenomenon frequently discussed online, where Americans with digestive problems claim they can eat foods such as bread, pasta and cheese while traveling in Europe without suffering their usual symptoms.
In one Reddit discussion, a woman with irritable bowel syndrome and lactose intolerance described eating pizza, pasta and gelato throughout an Italian holiday without experiencing bloating.
Another claimed that two weeks in Italy improved their digestive symptoms, skin and mood.
These accounts have helped fuel a popular theory that European food is somehow healthier or easier to digest than its American equivalent.
There are certainly differences between the two food systems.
The European Union regulates food additives and pesticides differently from the US, and some ingredients permitted in American products are restricted or prohibited in Europe.
‘In my practice, I often see how highly processed foods, additives and individual food sensitivities can contribute to digestive symptoms and inflammation, and simpler meals made with fewer ingredients may be better tolerated by some individuals,’ Kristen White, a registered dietitian nutritionist in private practice, told the Daily Mail.
She also notes that pesticide exposure ‘is another factor worth considering.’
‘The United States and European Union have different pesticide approval processes and regulatory standards, with the EU taking a more precautionary approach and prohibiting or restricting certain pesticides still permitted in the US,’ she said.
‘However, this does not mean all European produce is pesticide-free or that European farming practices are universally safer.’
Bailey told the Daily Mail that pasta and pizza became staples in her diet while living on the Amalfi Coast and in Florence. She now eats out for almost every meal while she’s in Italy
Food processing methods, recipes and portion sizes can also vary.
‘Traditional Italian eating habits, including fresh seasonal ingredients, smaller portions, slower meals and a greater emphasis on whole foods, may also support digestive health and weight management,’ White said.
And there is some intriguing research suggesting that even foods traditionally considered unhealthy may have unexpected benefits.
A 2023 Italian study involving 365 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes painful inflammation of the joints, found that those who ate more than half a pizza a week had significantly lower levels of disease activity.
The researchers reported an association with up to 70 percent lower odds of more severe disease, although the study could not establish whether pizza itself was responsible.
Meanwhile, a 2022 study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that the structure of pasta can slow the digestion of carbohydrates, resulting in a more gradual rise in blood sugar compared with foods such as bread.
But none of this establishes that American food was responsible for Bailey’s illness – or that Italian food cured it.
Indeed, the foods she describes eating in Italy include pizza, pastries, chocolate spread and gelato, which are not necessarily representative of the traditional Mediterranean diet associated with better long-term health.
That diet is typically rich in vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts and olive oil, with more moderate amounts of dairy and meat.
There is evidence that following a Mediterranean-style eating pattern may help reduce inflammation and improve some measures of health.
However, that is very different from demonstrating that switching countries can eliminate a serious, unexplained illness.
There are other possible explanations for Bailey’s improvement.
Travel can involve changes in stress, sleep, physical activity, meal timing and eating habits, all of which may influence digestive symptoms and general wellbeing.
And even apparently identical foods can differ in their ingredients and preparation.
When Bailey first moved to Italy, she focused on meeting local farmers and business owners to learn what it was about the food that made her feel so different compared to in the US
Crucially, doctors never established what was causing Bailey’s symptoms in the first place, making it impossible to say whether changes to her diet were responsible for her recovery.
Over the years, it was suggested she might have rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes painful inflammation of the joints, as well as a sleep disorder that could explain her extreme fatigue.
However, neither were offered as a formal diagnosis.
‘It is possible that changes in food quality, ingredients, food preparation and overall eating habits contributed to her improvement, although we cannot assume that Italian food itself treated an autoimmune condition,’ White said.
‘My advice to Americans is to look beyond the country of origin and focus on food quality, minimally processed ingredients, identifying individual food sensitivities, and finding an eating pattern that helps them feel their best.’
This makes it particularly difficult to draw conclusions about the apparent effect of her diet.
Undeterred, Bailey returned to Italy in February 2024, spending three months meeting farmers and food producers to learn about growing practices, pesticides, livestock standards and the processing of wheat.
She became convinced that differences in how food is produced were central to her recovery.
Today, she divides her time between Italy and the US, spending several months at a time in Florence.
Her diet remains remarkably unrestricted while she is there.
Bailey told the Daily Mail she usually eats multiple scoops of gelato a day while she’s in Florence
Breakfast might be a cinnamon roll and cappuccino, followed by gelato a few hours later. Lunch is often pizza, pasta or a sandwich, while dinner might be pasta with ragù or Florentine steak with vegetables and potatoes.
‘I do not limit myself with food at all,’ she said. ‘I eat anything I see. If I want it and I can eat it, I’m eating it.’
Back in Georgia, she relies heavily on food she brings or sources from Italy.
She has also turned her experience into a business, Health Journey Through Food, selling Italian food products and recommending others through her website.
Bailey says she no longer needs medication or supplements and now visits doctors only for routine check-ups.
She accepts that her experience may not be the same for everyone.
And while the precise explanation for her dramatic improvement remains unknown, she has no doubt about what the change has meant to her.
‘I do think that food is medicine because food has been medicine to my body when medicine couldn’t do anything,’ she said.