How Can You Test For Food Intolerance?

Many people, even those who are otherwise fit and healthy and who eat a sensible, well-balanced diet, have some kind of food intolerance which gives them a range of non-specific and usually mild symptoms which come and go.

Unlike an obvious food "allergy" where the reaction is IgE-antibody mediated and occurs within minutes or hours of eating the culprit food, food intolerance can lead to symptoms several days after food consumption. This means that it is difficult to know exactly which food or foods are causing the problems. Food intolerance affects up to 45% of the population and can cause some very common symptoms including bloating, wind, constipation, and stomach pains.

One of the most common ways to indentify food intolerance used to be through an elimination diet. This involves eating a restricted diet over a significant period of time (usually several weeks). If there is no reduction in symptoms during this period then it is assumed that the food type that has been restricted is not the problem and the process is repeated with another food type.

However recent developments over the years have seen food intolerance tests become one of the main ways to indentify food intolerance. The most scientific approach to food intolerance testing that is available is a blood test that measures food-specific IgG antibodies. This tests shows that a reaction to a particular food or foods has actually taken place in the body. Unfortunately not all food-specific IgG tests on the market are manufactured in the same way which means that not all food-specific IgG tests give the same results.

Unfortunately there are many tests on the market that produce high numbers of false positive results which leaves practitioners' confused, and the patient at risk of malnutrition if they followed the advice! This has led to some skepticism about test validity and it is really important to choose a test that has clinical data that support it.

One such test which is by far the most advanced and reliable food intolerance test is called the YorkTest FoodScan. The test developed by YorkTest Laboratories is able to test for food sensitivity for up to 113 individual foods which includes yeast, egg, milk, gluten, and more. From this you can gain better understanding about the foods that your body reacts unfavorably to and by cutting them out can help to improve some of your problematic symptoms. The test is a simple finger prick test which you can do at home. You then send the blood sample off to the laboratory that then assess the sample. If your blood sample is found raised levels of food-specific IgG antibodies then this indicates that a reaction to a particular food or foods has occurred.