If you suspect your child has food allergies or intolerances, there are several types of testing options available. Whether she has true allergies or other intolerances will determine the type of testing she needs.
What to expect at the doctor
To diagnose a food allergy, a doctor will usually do the following:
- Detailed patient history – including what food you think you are allergic to, when and how you react, what other foods you eat, how you prepare the food, how often you eat it, etc… This means that you should already have a good knowledge about the food you eat and their reactions to them.
- Physical exam – to identify or rule out the possibility of other unknown medical problems
- food record – Then you will go and record everything you eat for a few days, when you eat it and what reactions you have. This helps with consistency in symptoms and gives your doctor a clearer idea of the pattern.
- elimination diet – stop eating suspected or proven foods, if the symptoms disappear, a diagnosis can be made. If he eats the food again and has a reaction, the diagnosis is confirmed. This confirmation cannot be used in the case of a severe IgE allergy, as it would be too dangerous to eat the food again. It would just be completely removed.
- initial tests – Once a diagnosis is suspected or made, a doctor can use standard tests to measure an allergic response. This can be a skin prick test, a RAST or ELISA test, as well as other options such as the ALCAT test.
Test Options:
IgE-mediated reactions (acute allergy)
- skin prick test – A diluted substance or extract is placed on the skin, a small puncture is made just enough to allow the substance to enter the epidermis (outermost layer of the skin), usually the skin of the forearm. Redness or swelling would indicate a localized reaction. It’s quick and easy, but sometimes false positives occur: the patient reacts to the skin test but not to real food. Doctors rely on the patient’s history and the skin test to make a better diagnosis.
- RAST Panel – (RadioAllergoSorbent Test) The doctor takes a blood sample and sends it to a laboratory. It detects multiple allergies at once by measuring the amount of antibodies found in the blood.
IgG-mediated reactions (intolerance with late symptoms)
- ELISE (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) A blood test that measures levels of IgG antibodies to commonly offending foods. Clearly identify those foods that may be causing health problems.
- ALCAT (Antigen Leukocyte Cellular Antibody Test) Blood test that measures food sensitivities or intolerances to more than 350 foods, additives, and environmental chemicals. It measures the inflammation produced by the reactivity of leukocytes (white blood cells) in whole blood.
Other testing options
- Stool test (stool) This test measures IgA reactions and is known as the most accurate test for gluten intolerance.
- energy tests – (NAET, Kinesiology, SCIO, Electrodermal Sensing) These various testing methods are the most alternative and involve principles of energy, muscle strength, and various other controversial techniques.
- saliva test – One of the least expensive tests available, but also one of the least accurate and least recommended.
**There are more that could be discussed, but these are the most common options.
Discuss allergy testing with your doctor
If you choose to go to your doctor, you may encounter opposition. Because most allopathic doctors (regular doctors) usually think only of real IgE allergies, they may be unfamiliar with the other options or try to convince you that they are unnecessary.
The medical establishment likes cause-effect-remedy type problems to solve. Strep bacteria cause strep throat, for which an antibiotic is prescribed. The doctor has done his job using a prescribed medication to get rid of the problem. You can’t make money on drugs by prescribing an elimination diet.
Beyond the only 1 course in nutrition during medical school, there is no education for doctors on this topic. Pharmaceutical companies make sure that doctors are offered continuing education on the latest equipment and drugs manufactured because it will bring them profit if the doctors prescribe the drugs and use the sophisticated equipment. On the other hand, if the doctor does not personally understand the benefits of the diet and food sensitivity elimination diets, they will most likely dismiss you when you bring it up.
It is rare to find a regular MD with this knowledge who wants to follow this plan. This is why you often need to find a naturopath or physician trained in biomedical autism intervention to pursue this course of treatment under the supervision of a medical professional.
There is a whole new area of medicine under development called “Functional Medicine” with standard clinicians who understand and acknowledge the “whole body” principle and who recognize the value of nutrition in health and in exploring food allergies and intolerances or sensitivities. This developing information will help guide parents on the differences between allergies, sensitivities and intolerances.
