Food Sensitivity Testing: An Answer to Unexplained Symptoms?

 

Food is a huge part of the human experience. We not only need food to stay health and fuel our energy needs, it also contributes to our feelings of community, shapes our society, and even identifies us with our culture.

But for some, food is an obstacle wrought with many challenges.

Food allergies are an unfortunate part of many children and adults’ lives with the prevalence of food allergies increasing in the United States. One JAMA study noted that almost eleven percent of adults surveyed had a food allergy and that at least half of those surveyed had at least one food allergy that first appeared in adulthood [1].

Undoubtedly food allergies are a burden for a sizable amount of the adult population. Children don’t fare much better when it comes to food allergies. According to FARE, the Food and Allergy Resource and Education Institution, eight percent of children suffer from food allergies [2].

The most common food allergies most often centered around peanuts, shellfish, tree nuts, and milk in both adult and pediatric populations. Allergies to sesame involving anaphylaxis is also an emerging concern.

While food allergies are becoming more prevalent in the United States and globally [3], most of this research focuses only on the allergen specific immunoglobulin E, or IgE for allergy confirmation. While helpful in addressing overt food allergies involving anaphylaxis, IgE food allergies are only a part of the picture.

To understand the extent of food allergies, immunoglobulin G, or IgG food sensitivity testing must be done.

What is the difference between IgE and IgG?

IgE, immunoglobulin E, is an antibody produced by the immune system in response to something that is perceived as a threat. Reactions associated with an IgE allergy are skin hives, itching eyes, nose and mouth, tingling of the lips, swelling of the tongue, throat tightness, and trouble breathing [4].

These symptoms are usually overt and can lead to anaphylaxis, a condition in which the blood pressure drops too low to provide oxygen to the body.

While IgE allergies can be deadly, IgG food sensitivities offer a different and often more complete picture of an adverse reaction to a certain food.

IgG, immunoglobulin G, is also an antibody produced but the immune system in response to foods deemed to be a threat. Reactions associated with IgG are usually more subtle and occur over a longer period of time. For example, responses associated with IgG include gastrointestinal symptoms like abdominal cramps, diarrhea and constipation [5], headache, rashes, general malaise, and increased inflammation.

What’s more telling is that IgG testing can reveal a particular food sensitivity even when IgE testing comes back within normal limits. For example, one study showed that over eighty percent of participants with high IgG levels, indicating a food sensitivity to various foods like wheat, yeast, and peas, had no evidence (i.e IgE levels within normal limits) of a food allergy even though they had hives [6].

Furthermore, food diet elimination based on IgG testing, not IgE, has resulted in the decrease of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms (IBS) [7] and the frequency and severity of migraines in susceptible populations [8].

In the majority of these cases, IgE testing came back within normal ranges indicating that no food allergy was present. Testing IgG food sensitivities often gives a more complete picture of the immune response to ingested foods when IgE is of no help.

Evidently, IgG testing can be extremely beneficial for pinpointing and understanding symptoms that can’t be explained via conventional IgE food allergy testing.

 AYUMETRIX offers innovative, high quality, accurate, and affordable in home IgG based food sensitivity testing to help get to the bottom of the often stubborn and unexplained symptoms for food sensitivities. With the ease and convenience of in home collection kits, samples can be collected and mailed back to the lab.

AYUMETRIX is the leader in exceptional testing with food sensitivity panel ranging from Celiac disease to the the powerful Organic Acids Test, among many others. Food sensitivity testing with AYUMETRIX helps frame hard to understand symptoms.

Those who suffer from unexplained or hard to control symptoms would do well to speak to their healthcare provider about food sensitivity testing through AYUMETRIX.

For more information about the difference between IgE and IgG, food sensitivities and food allergies, the many diverse and important roles the immune system plays in digestion and food allergy and sensitivity symptoms, and how food sensitivities can adversely affect your health and well-being please visit ayumetrix.com or contact info@ayumetrix.com

Candace Mathers, ND

 

References

1.    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2720064

2.    file:///Users/candacemathers/Downloads/FARE%20Food%20Allergy%20Facts%20and%20Stats%20rev%202020-06-04.pdf

3.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6163515/

4.    https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/ige-mediated-food-allergies

5.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6074204/#:~:text=It%20has%20been%20implicated%20in,as%20rashes%2C%20urticaria%20and%20asthma.&text=Gastrointestinal%20symptoms%20suggestive%20of%20irritable,with%20IgG%2Dmediated%20food%20intolerance.

6.    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27920409/

7.    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15361495/

8.    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31456119/