has anyone heard of this lab? my LLMD says that food sensitivity tests done via blood testing is not allowed by NYS law. however, my kids' doctor manages to get them done. my daughter and myself had it done and i am wondering how accurate it really is. it shows the level of IGGs against certain foods. Just wondering - anyone have any leads? thanks.

wow, ok thanks! any info will be helpful. i am just so confused, bc most of the foods that show high sensitivity for myself and my daughter are the ones that we both eat the most, with the exception of one or two items. but we both do have bloating and stomach issues, so that is why i did this - but didnt expect my daughter's list to be so bad! - all of her favorites, esp.. dairy (icecream) and gluten (pasta) - i agree that dairy would probably show up on everyone's profile!!!

i posted this question on facebeook and a friend who is in the medical field (a pharmacist like me except she is a pharm D and a teacher, posted this article, which states that IGG food sensitivity testing is totally unreliable......

this is so confusing!!

http://foodconnections.org/2014/04/14/myths-used-to-justify-food-intolerance-blood-tests/

that sounds good, but how long should i do it for? like with me - i have been eating eggs all of my life, i eat scrambled, egg salad, put eggs in my meatballs, etc. sometimes i get stomach aches sometimes i dont. should i avoid eggs for a week, or a month and then reintroduce? appreciate all of your help here!!!

my daughter cannot handle anything greasy - she refluxes just the oil, its gross!! and if she has too much tomato sauce, her stomach always hurts. but tomatoes are non reactive on the test and oil isnt tested.

about two years ago, i was looking into Mastocytosis which is a theory that a lot of the problems we have is too many mast cells. Mast Cells produce histamine and cause allergic reactions. With food sensitivities, it causes all the GI issues.

First he did the prick test and I was negative for everything. So his recommendation was an elimination diet, but not your normal elimination diet. Most of us have multiple food sensitivities. So his elimination diet was chicken, white processed rice, and a little salt. Nothing else. No spices especially pepper. No oils. Nothing. The reason for the processed rice is because he has found that most people tolerate it. You eat that for 2 weeks to give your body a chance to go back to a baseline.

After that, you can add in one item every four days as long as there is no reaction. If you react then you have to take out the food item and give your body time to go back to the baseline. The big problem is that once you add something in that you can't tolerate, you body reacts worse than it ever has. And he was right.

My go to protein was hard boiled egg whites. Four days in I was feeling better, but I ran out of food and no one was home to shop for me. So all I had was eggs. I boiled up some eggs and they were the most delicious thing I ever had until a couple hours later. I spent the night in the bathroom. So I found out all the time I had been thinking I was doing good because I had a really lean protein I loved.

I already knew that dairy protein was a problem and a few other things. I did feel better but I was starving. I lost 8 pounds. I never found myself able to stick to the diet. Not to mention that I am addicted to sugary soda and I do mean addicted. I'm working on this now.

Apparently egg whites are a common allergy and people can tolerate eggs in things like baked goods because there is only a small amount. By hard boiling them, I concentrated the allergen. There is also the possibility of cross reaction with chicken. He said that most people can tolerate turkey. He also said I could try substituting the chicken with lamb (not in this life time) or beef. He also said that most people end up going organic because of pesticides and other things. But everyone here probably knows that.

Anyway, I was talking to my pcp about it and she said that she would normally never suggest it but in my case I needed to come up with a subset of foods I could start with and not starve. She gave me the name of a couple of companies that do the blood tests. One was Meridian Valley.

The problem with the test is that you need to eat lots of all the foods within a few days before the test to provoke the immune system. Once I took out eggs, dairy protein, and soy (which I knew but was in denial about) and then I really looked at the list of foods, I found that it really wasn't going to be worth the cost.

I'm a finicky eater so there was only a small list of foods I really would be testing for. I have found that if I stick to things that are least likely to bother me, my stomach is not too bad. Now I know that part of my problem is likely yeast.

I know that soy is a definite problem. I had gone about 6 months without chinese food (actually just chicken and rice with schezuan sauce) and earlier this week I broke down and got some. I regretted it for a very long time. I was so sick. I have gone without ice cream for 2 years and also broke down and bought some (it's been a tough week). I didn't have a problem with the ice cream, but I didn't push it. I've only had two small bowlsful.

If you are finicky, the test are definitely not worth it. If you eat a wide variety of foods it might be worth it, but the only true test is to take the food out and then reintroduce it after a good amount of time.

Good luck,
Kim