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Food Sensitivity Tests?

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
Hi~ I am interested in a blood test that identifies food sensitivities. I would appreciate recommendations, websites, experiences with such testing, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Timaca :)
 

Sparrow

Senior Member
Messages
691
Location
Canada
I found mine very useful.

When I was researching, the company with the most credible feedback, consistency, etc. seemed to be YorkTest (I believe that's what it was called - it's the one with the apple logo).

That said, I got mine done through a different lab since it was the one my naturopath worked with, and I found the results quite accurate. Mine was done via Rocky Mountain Analytics, I believe.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Ive heard that some labs are far more accurate with their testing of this then some other labs (you can use two different labs and get quite different results). So I highly suggest that for whatever lab you use for their test you get good recommendations for it.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I've benefitted from labs and watching for reactions. Tests won't always pick up intolerances.
And sometimes reactions are difficult to find. For ex, I have no idea what's causing my oi but it's responding to
allergy meds.

My doc used Genova and now metametrix. Tc ... X
 

Sparrow

Senior Member
Messages
691
Location
Canada
Tests won't always pick up intolerances.

That is a good point. The blood tests caught my allergies and food-related immune reactions, but there is a set of other foods that causes gut problems for different reasons. So there was still some trial and error involved, but it was a good starting point in what to cut out for me.
 
Messages
15,786
I found it pretty useful too. It didn't pick up a couple things I react to by swelling for a day or two, but it picked up things that cause me to swell for a few hours. So maybe some different mechanisms going on in my reactions to foods, and the test only picked up one kind.

But it did seem pretty accurate - it caught cranberries, sesame, and soy, also bananas which I knew about before (and had the shorter-term reaction to). It listed pretty much all dairy, especially casein but I don't seem to have much reaction to that - so I'm not sure if I really react strongly to whey, or that just got picked up because I'd been eating a ton of casein protein drinks.

Either way, it's good info to have, especially if you're reacting to a lot of things and having trouble figuring out where to start. Then you can eliminate all of those things and see if GI/immune symptoms improve, and see if you need to try a more restrictive elimination diet for a bit.
 
Messages
445
Location
Georgia
I paid for ELISA-ACT food sensitivity testing back in the 90s, not expecting anything. I had been told it was highly inaccurate. But the tests came back saying I was sensitive to wheat and dairy. For years I cut out gluten and dairy, and I must say I felt better.

But the basic symptoms of my illness never really changed. So over the years I have gone back to eating whatever. The basic premise: you are going to feel like s**t on a continual basis, with peaks and valleys, and diet changes or whatever just nibble around the edges of a problem.

Also, I think many folks who have had ME/CFS for decades are a little fatalistic; so if they want to eat a pizza for an emotional reasons, I'm definitely not going to shame them. If they loosen up the medical marijuana laws, after the next election, I'm not sure I won't be experimenting with that. That's what age will do to you.
 
Messages
15,786
I paid for ELISA-ACT food sensitivity testing back in the 90s, not expecting anything. I had been told it was highly inaccurate. But the tests came back saying I was sensitive to wheat and dairy. For years I cut out gluten and dairy, and I must say I felt better.

I agree ... it's nothing close to a cure, just a way to get rid of some symptoms. I think it really depends on whether you think avoiding a food is worth the relief afforded from those symptoms. I'll put up with the symptoms of lactose intolerance, but I won't tolerate full body swelling, even temporarily now - the last bout was more extreme and even became rather painful from the pressure.
 

Sparrow

Senior Member
Messages
691
Location
Canada
I'm constantly debating with myself on this. Sometimes I think that if I can live with the temporary symptoms a food causes, then I should just make myself happy and satisfy whatever nutritional niche it fills, and eat it when I feel like it. Sometimes I feel like if it's clearly causing inflammation/allergies/etc. then I should avoid it entirely to take the pressure off of the rest of me or avoid triggering anything worse.

I've been pretty strong so far, but sometimes...pizza... Pizzzzzz-aaaaaa.
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
Well, since I posted that question back in 2012, I've learned a few things....
(1) The blood test I took for food sensitivities was not accurate (I think it was an IgG test....)
(2) The best way to test for food sensitivities is to do an elimination diet and reintroduce the foods and see how you react
(3) That gets complicated because you may react to the food which makes it easy or if it is a chemical in the food (eg histamine) you may or may not react depending on how much histamine is in that food (my experience with fish)
(4) Percutaneous skin tests by an allergist can be helpful.

I do have food intolerance to way too many foods. We are trying to figure out why. I do have a histamine intolerance, so, for example, sometimes salmon is fine for me and sometimes it isn't depending on how fresh it is (if it isn't fresh, it has too much histamine and can make me sick). The skin testing by the allergist did show a wheal and flare for both wheat and oats, so I'm avoiding those.

For more info on my journey you can read the post on my blog: Wheat, Oral Petechiae and Me.

Best,