Food Sensitivity Testing
The more commonly known allergies are IgE or anaphylactic allergies and these are dangerous and potentially life threatening. The food sensitivity/food allergy testing, will test your blood against food to see if there are immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies created. When an ingested food creates IgG antibodies, this is called a food sensitivity. Less than 20% of the population have IgG food sensitivities and they can be different foods than IgE for food allergies for a person. It is possible to have 2 sets of food issues or just 1 or no food reactions.
Most people who have IgG food sensitivities have allergies, asthma or eczema. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) food testing is a useful for minor neurological issues, some gastrointestinal problems, and some behavioral disorders. People may continue to eat offending foods unaware of their potential adverse effects. Symptoms associated with food sensitivities may occur hours or days after the offending food was eaten because IgG food antibodies remain for a much longer time than IgE antibodies.
Symptoms most commonly improved (75%-100%) on the elimination diets included asthma, coughing, ringing in the ears, chronic fatigue, headaches, gas, bloating, diarrhea, skin rash and itching, and nasal congestion. The most common IgG food allergies were to cow’s milk, garlic, mustard, egg yolk, tea, and chocolate.
Food elimination diets also hold promise for the improvement of behaviors associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Benefits of Testing
- IgG testing determines if food reactions are contributing to physical or mental symptoms, and much more quickly than eliminating and then reintroducing each suspect food one-by-one over a period of time.
- Removal of highly reactive foods from the diet is a non-invasive therapy that often mitigates a patient’s symptoms.
- Research and clinical studies suggest food allergies identified by IgG testing can be major contributing factors to many chronic health conditions.
- Eliminating all identified IgG-positive foods after testing can reduce stress on the immune system, decrease inflammation (helping to heal “leaky gut”), resolve food cravings, and reduce the potential for eating disorders.