Food Testing: Why I Don’t Recommend I
A common question I get from my clients is, “Should I take a food sensitivity test?”
My answer is always, “Maybe, but mostly I don’t recommend them.”
Usually when someone is asking that question, what they really want to know is:
Am I eating foods that don’t work for my body?
Would eliminating some foods from my diet help with some of the symptoms I’m experiencing?
How can I know if I’m eating something that doesn’t work for me?
This is the bread and butter of much of my practice - supporting my clients in discovering a lifestyle (including food, habits, movement, emotional & spiritual healing work, etc.) that promotes their optimal health, healing, and vitality.
Although I don’t recommend food testing in most cases, I do have some suggestions on how we can answer the above questions. Read below to understand the nuances of food tests, which ones I might recommend in some cases, and what I do recommend to determine how you can eat for your best possible health.
Why I Don’t Recommend Food Testing
Food sensitivity tests are useful to a point but they do not tell you what you think they should tell you. They will only tell you what your immune system, and only part of your immune system, is reacting to now in the moment you take the test. If we retested you every month for 12 months you would find a few commonalities and many differences over the course of the year.
Food sensitivity testing is predominantly based on antibody reactions to specific sequences of proteins found in foods. If your body has a problem with a food that is not mediated by your antibodies, it won’t show up on most tests. Immunological reactions to foods can come from many other sources such as cytokines, prostaglandin, and leukotrienes. Not to mention there are other ways some foods cause symptoms and illness that are not directly due to the immune system. For instance, if it is an issue of your gut microbiome (as in small intestinal or large intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO or LIBO) it often won’t show up on a sensitivity test. If your body has an actual allergic response (itching, sneezing, anaphylactic, eczema reactions) it will only show up if you test for IgE antibodies specifically. Some people have issues with digesting certain carbohydrates or histamine increasing foods or foods that have mold toxins, none of which will be represented in a standard food sensitivity panel.
Most commonly it is the underlying inflammation in your GI track and an imbalanced microbiome that is underneath many (although not all) issues with foods in the first place. Removing the foods can be helpful to heal the gut, and clinically I’ve found it is important to remove the most generally inflammatory foods to heal no matter what the reaction level is on the tests. Going to great lengths to stop eating specific fruits, vegetables, spices and food additives that often do come up on food sensitivity tests often don’t make a huge difference for most people both in terms of symptom reduction and over all return to health.
The Most Common Options
The #1 most common tests are for IgG antibodies which mediate delayed hypersensitivity (react 24-72 hours after exposure). If you DO have a reaction via this one option (among dozens if not hundreds of ways the body can react to a food) then this will be positive. However, just because you test negative to an IgG reaction to a food doesn’t mean you don’t have an issue with it via some other route. Also, this test requires you have been eating the food frequently over the last 30-90 days. So if you are already avoiding dairy or gluten (for example) it will not show a reaction to those foods.
For a more complete picture, some lab companies have added additional immune components to their tests. While this does give you a more comprehensive perspective, and can be clinically useful in some cases, the costs have gone up quite a bit.
It is typical to find a 150-200 food test panel of IgG antibodies for about $250-$350. As you add more immune components, such as IgG4, Complement, IgE, IgA, the tests can range from $500-$900+ for a full analysis. Worth it in some instances, but not for most of us.
Food Tests I Would Recommend (In Some Cases)
If I am going to do food testing, my preferred options do not worry about the specific immune molecule that is reacting. Instead, they developed a methodology that tests for the degree the immune system reacts as a whole:
With these tests we won’t know exactly if it is IgA, IgG, IgG4, or cytokines, interleukin or prostaglandins that are reacting to the food, we know the white blood cells have a defensive reaction period that could be causing symptoms and illness. In my experience, these tests are the most useful if my client prefers a test as a starting point before doing the work for a more dedicated elimination diet.
When I believe food testing is the right pathway:
When you need the motivation to see results in black and white to kickstart you into making further lifestyle changes
When there is significant disease such as epilepsy, autism, bipolar depression, severe allergies, mast cell activation syndrome (MACAs), intractable eczema, some cases of autoimmune disease, chemical sensitivities or “I react to everything and don’t know what to eat.”
When you feel overwhelmed by the idea of a full elimination diet
When food sensitivity testing is not very useful:
Desiring to lose weight and regain energy
Chronic fatigue syndrom
Most cases of heart disease
Mold toxicity or heavy metal toxicity
Some cases of autoimmune disease
Longevity medicine - desiring the right diet to live a healthy life over a long period of time
Ironically, with most digestive or Gastrointestinal illnesses
What I Do Recommend
If you fall into any of the above categories of when food sensitivity testing is not as useful, you’re dealing with chronic signs of inflammation, chronic stress, chronic illness not improving from other interventions, or other issues that you suspect are rooted in the foods you’re eating. What I DO recommend is removing the top inflammatory foods we already know give 90% of us some kind of health issue so your body is more capable to heal the rest of what you are dealing with.
Here are the top inflammatory foods, in priority order to eliminate from my perspective:
Wheat & gluten - removing this also has the added benefit of removing most flour-based foods that wreak havoc on your blood sugar, brain function, and energy levels.
Dairy - In todays world processed dairy is inflammatory. If you have access to raw dairy this could be a super immune boosting food if you are not casein or lactose intolerant.
Soy - is actually a highly allergenic food, correlated to autoimmune triggers among others.
Sugar - not commonly an actual allergen but it always causes inflammation. Often people notice they can use limited honey, grade B dark maple syrup, or coconut sugar with little to no inflammatory response.
Corn - about 25-30% of my clients have issues with corn, more common if you are of latin heritage.
Eggs - about 10% of my clients have an issue with eggs. When it does come up it can cause a significant change in health.
Elimination Diets
Overall, I much, much, MUCH prefer elimination diets over food sensitivity testing. Elimination diets are more comprehensively accurate AND they encourage a deep connection listening to your body and how you feel. The results are more complete and it cultivates a direct experience that once you have had it, you cannot deny its truth for you.
Fortunately, there are several authors who have gone out of their way to write excellent books on the process for an elimination diet and how to reintroduce foods back in to learn your bodies responses.
My top recommendations:
Inflammation Spectrum by Dr Will Cole - 8 week elimination with 8 week reintroduction period
Whole30 - 30 day emphasis on zero sugar, full paleo, whole foods eating (no grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, sugar). You can start with the book, It Starts With Food by Dallas Hartwig and Mellisa Hartwig
Brightline Eating by Susan Peirce Thompson - this is more of a diet for food addiction then a true elimination diet, but the roots are the same and I love her take on the emotional relationship to food as a major component in reworking our health
GAPS diet, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, or Low FODMAP diets - all are more long term (1-3 years typically), intensive diets that successfully help heal significant gastrointestinal disorders, autism, mood imbalances, spectrum disorders, gut-related attention and focus conditions, gut-related psychiatric conditions, and the like
If you need support in determining what is the right next step for you, book a call with me - we’ll get you on the right track.