Last week I wrote a blog post entitled “The Elimination Diet vs. Food Sensitivity Testing“. In this post I spoke about both the pros and cons of an elimination diet and food sensitivity testing. I’m personally more in favor of an elimination diet, although there are times when I will recommend food sensitivity testing to my patients. For those reading this who have done food sensitivity testing, I’d like to get your feedback.
If you have had any type of food sensitivity testing done, whether it was an IgG food sensitivity test, an ALCAT, MRT, or another method, did you agree with the findings? Of course this is assuming you had some foods that you tested positive for. Although I realize that you can’t always go by symptoms, many times you can, and so I’m curious to know if you had a negative reaction to any foods you tested positive for. In other words, did the results of your food sensitivity testing make sense, or were they not what you expected?
And for those who have done food sensitivity testing AND have also followed an elimination diet, I’d love to hear what your thoughts are as well. Did you find an elimination diet or food sensitivity testing to be more helpful in identifying potential food triggers? Or did you find neither of these methods to be helpful? Please share your experience in the comments section below. Thank you!
I had a food sensitivity test done and some of the results just didn’t make sense. It said I was very sensitive to foods such as salmon, garlic , sweet potatoes, apples and most dairy just to name a few. I agreed with the dairy part but most of the others I felt were not accurate at all.
Hi, I followed the elimination diet and upon reintroduction, could not tell which foods I was sensitive too, it seemed like I wasn’t reacting to anything and it was frustrating. I should add that I have been strictly gluten free for 4 years, I know that I do react to gluten.
I tried the PinnerTest and was told that I react to coffee, chickpeas, cabbage and eggplant. I completely agree with the coffee assessment, it has always given me rage after a strong cup. I had always thought it was the caffeine but I do not react to black tea or any other caffeinated beverage like that. As for chickpeas, I mainly ate them in hummus and not that often but I think I reacted as well, although I tolerate them better when sprouted. I have never liked eggplant or cabbage although I had been trying to eat more home made sauerkraut which I seemed to tolerate although I wasn’t eating it every day.
My husband also took the PinnerTest and found he reacts to cows milk, egg yolks, lentils an pork. He was aware of milk, egg yolks which he never liked and pork which instantly gives him heartburn. He didn’t eat lentils so no idea on that one.
So I would say that yes, I believe the PinnerTest accurately diagnosed my food sensitivities.
I had an IgG test done, cut out the foods indicated and all my illnesses disappeared, granted my thyroid took a bit of time to kick in, and a few supplements but this was due to PTSD from being poisoned at sea with Isocyanates.
100% success.
Hi: I had both IgG and IgA testing done in 2013. Frankly, I was surprised by the results, and did question them, because there were a lot of foods on there that I had no outward reaction to (and I am very aware and sensitive to my body’s reaction to things and how I feel). The functional medicine doctor told me that the foods I tested positive to could be causing silent inflammation, and that I didn’t necessarily have to react to them outwardly. I would say most of the foods I tested positive to I wasn’t having an outward reaction, with the exception of dairy. Interestingly, I am now following a Nutritional Balancing program, and some of the foods that are on the “NO” list align with some of the foods I tested positive to. I have been working on gut health for a few years. This last year, I have added back, in moderation, some of the foods that were on my IgG avoid list such as: beans, eggs, zucchini, cucumber, a little raw dairy Kefir, with no outward issues.
My experience with with skin testing as a kid was quite inaccurate, as was later RAST blood testing for food allergy (as opposed to environmental allergies). Doing an elimination diet for four months, re-introducing foods one at a time and not eating them more than twice a week after that, seem to have prevented re-sensitization. The most accurate methods I have found for determining food sensitivity, for me is muscle testing, which I do on myself and the Pulse Test, published in the 1950’s by Arthur F. Coca,M.D. Here’s a free link to his book: http://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/02/0201hyglibcat/020108.coca.pdf
I had the Elisa allergy testing done and it turned out to be completely worthless for me. Whereas I’ve had complete control of my symptoms with the elimination diet. Wheat, cow dairy, and eating high carb more than occasionally trigger my symptoms. I didn’t test positive for any of those. Elisa testing told me that I was allergic to a handful of random things that I don’t even eat.
I had the alcat test done and it came back with things I normally eat almost every day. Chicken, beef, eggs, rice… even Iceberg Lettuce!
The list goes on and is pretty crazy. Its difficult to eliminate when normal, seemingly basic everyday foods are the supposed culprit.. Needless to say, dairy and gluten foods are out of question. It would have been easier to accept if it just stopped there but… rice?? Chicken?? Potato????!! Coffee! Lettuce even?!!!! there were approx 50 basic foods on there I couldn’t eat. I’d rather just starve!
Maybe thats why Im not having any success because I continue to eat said food items. But with a family to cook for and constant stress at work/life balance, sorry but I am not going to eliminate easy quick food, and food they all want to eat just because mom is ‘sensitive’… Ive written myself off anyway. Between these results and not getting the right diagnosis and help from doctors. Life is hard as it is without health issues. Just wonder how much longer I will last.
I couldn’t agree with you more. My ALCAT results also showed sensitivity to the most basic foods like rice and carrots and potatoes and peppermint tea and I refuse to eliminate those. I don’t think it’s that accurate.
I had the IgG Elisa test done around the same time I started the AIP diet. My test indicated I had sensitivities to bananas, beans, cheese, eggs, milk, pineapple, wheat and yeast. It was interesting to see that 6 of the 8 items would be eliminated with AIP. So I went AIP without bananas and pineapple. (The bananas surprised me, but the pineapple didn’t – my tongue always hurt after eating pineapple as a child.)
I thought it was useful to have the IgG test along with doing AIP.
I had the Alletess IgG ELISA test done in 2015 by a chiropractor, which said I was sensitive to lots of foods that I ate regularly. I then went to a naturopath who recommended the Cyrex labs array 3 (gluten sensivity), array 4 (gluten – associated cross reactivity) and array 10 (96 foods tested) because she said it was better. I came up gluten and dairy sensitive and sensitive to all grains including rice and corn and some of the common grains they use in gluten-free products. I was also sensitive to A LOT of foods I ate regularly ( blueberries, spinach, onion etc). But when I compared the IgG ELISA test to the Cyrex test they didn’t completed say the same foods. I gave up all the foods on the Cyrex test for 5 months and my TPO antibodies went from 550 to 296 and most of my symptoms disappeared. Two years later I have added some of the foods back and I am still figuring out which foods cause a reaction. I didn’t try an elimination diet per se. I would say doing two of the food sensitivity tests did confuse me and I was and still am on a pretty strict diet and the antibodies are holding steady at 300 for the past year. I think I could have saved a lot of money if I had just done an elimination diet. That being said, having the results that clearly say I should stay away from gluten including ALL GRAINS and dairy kept me highly motived to stay away from grains and dairy.
In 2010 I did food sensitivity testing as encouraged by the naturopath.
I had high sensitivity to my favorite foods: corn, blueberries, clams, white fish. I gave these foods up for a number of years. I can eat blueberries, clams and white fish in moderation now.
I was dx with IBS in nursing school and told had to figure it out for myself. As a result have learned that I do better without grains and sugar.
Had Candida in 2010. Eat organic and have healed digestive problems through my functional medicine MD
I have a lactose intolerance so eliminated Dairy
I had a food/non-food intolerance test done which showed that some of my highest intolerances were meat and seafood with Soy being the highest (99%). I am still trying to figure out exactly how to eat as I am almost 59 years old and had never really thought about becoming a vegetarian! I had already eliminated Soy, hopefully 100%, along with a number of other high intolerance foods and did see a drop in my TPO Antibodies in my last labs. Hopefully being really strict with myself will result in even lower Antibodies!
I had the food allergy testing about two years ago, and the results were very strange, and seem unreliable to me. The test showed I had no reaction to the usual culprits like dairy and grains, but showed I was supposedly highly reactive to black-eyed peas and avocado. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten black-eyed peas in my life, so I think that has to be an error. But I’ve eliminated avocado since the test, just in case.
I had the Alletess IgG ELISA Test of 184 foods in 2015 and it helped me find many hidden food intolerances that did not show up in elimination diets or prior IgG testing. I dropped the 12 moderate and 36 low reactive foods from my diet to prove the test was wrong. But I found that these foods were triggering reactions that I was brushing off as other causes, like seasonal allergies and digestive problems. Over time I’ve dropped the worse offenders permanently from my diet and eat the remaining foods occasional without any major reactions. However eat them too often or too much at a time and I start having problems again. I think the ELISA test has problems and limitations. It did not pick up my corn intolerance. I’m Celiac and it picked up a low reaction to rye but no reaction to gluten. So, this test does not confirm or rule out Celiac disease. It also picked up a moderate reaction to 2 gluten-free grains that they now say have their own form of gluten. So, you do not know if you are reacting to the grain or the gluten it contains. You will need to get additional testing to see what you are really reacting to.