Food Intolerance – What is it?
Increasing Importance of Food Intolerance
Adverse reactions to foods are causing increasingly more health problems. It is estimated that more than 40% of the population have food intolerance or food sensitivity. It is often difficult to identify as the appearance of symptoms may occur several hours or days after a food is consumed. This makes it difficult to determine which foods could be considered as the trigger of the health problem.
Food Allergy or Food Intolerance
It is important to realize there is a difference.
Food allergy, IgE Reaction
Is usually characterized by an immediate and often severe reaction of the immune system when a specific food, like a peanut or shellfish, is eaten. The immune system produces IgE antibodies that can lead to reactions such as rashes, difficulty in breathing and anaphylactic shock. Once a reaction occurs, the food should not be eaten again and referral to a specialist is recommended.
Food intolerance, IgG Reaction
Is usually characterized by a delayed reaction and involves the production of IgG antibodies. If the food is avoided for a period of time, it is quite possible to re-introduce the food back into the diet and symptoms may not re-occur.
Food allergy, IgE Reaction
Is usually characterized by an immediate and often severe reaction of the immune system when a specific food, like a peanut or shellfish, is eaten. The immune system produces IgE antibodies that can lead to reactions such as rashes, difficulty in breathing and anaphylactic shock. Once a reaction occurs, the food should not be eaten again and referral to a specialist is recommended.
Food intolerance, IgG Reaction
Is usually characterized by a delayed reaction and involves the production of IgG antibodies. If the food is avoided for a period of time, it is quite possible to re-introduce the food back into the diet and symptoms may not re-occur.
How Food Intolerances Lead to Chronic Conditions
In a healthy individual it is normal for some partially digested food to pass between the gut cells into the blood stream and trigger an immune response. The body thinks this food is “foreign” and produces IgG antibodies. A normal immune system will effectively remove these antibodies by special cells called macrophages before they can cause a problem.
If the immune system is not functioning normal, the macrophages may be challenged to clear the IgG antibodies. These IgG antibodies can bind to the specific food proteins to form immune complexes, which can circulate in the blood stream and accumulate in joints or organs causing inflammation. If the food is not removed from the diet, the processes can lead to a variety of diseases and health conditions.
If the immune system is not functioning normal, the macrophages may be challenged to clear the IgG antibodies. These IgG antibodies can bind to the specific food proteins to form immune complexes, which can circulate in the blood stream and accumulate in joints or organs causing inflammation. If the food is not removed from the diet, the processes can lead to a variety of diseases and health conditions.
Why Get Tested
Elimination diets can be used to identify problem foods, this ‘trial and error’ approach is very time consuming. It can take a long time to identify the offending foods and achieve long-term health improvements, even with help from a health professional.
Detection of food-specific IgG antibodies is recognized as a reliable method to identify foods that may be causing symptoms and to guide the design of elimination diets based on the IgG antibody results.
Detection of food-specific IgG antibodies is recognized as a reliable method to identify foods that may be causing symptoms and to guide the design of elimination diets based on the IgG antibody results.
Eliminating Reactive Foods
Eliminating Reactive Foods
- Your healthcare professionals can help you create a plan to eliminate or rotate the foods in your diet
- Foods in red should be avoided for a period of 2-3 months and food in yellow can be reduced or rotated
- It is important to maintain a healthy diet through this process, replacing nutrients from other foods
- It is important to maintain a healthy diet through this process, replacing nutrients from other foods
- Most people find an improvement in their symptoms within a few weeks, but it varies from individual to individual
- Keeping a diary is a great tool to help monitor the changes in the diet and symptoms
The Health Food Intolerance Test
- Uses new state of the art microarray technology
- Offer 4 different panels, 210 or 130 foods, vegetarian, vegan
- Use purified food extracts for testing that are commercially prepared by a ISO certified manufacturer
- Each food is tested in duplicate to ensure that you are provided with an accurate result
- Reports are in 2 formats – by reactivity or by food group
- Personalized reports with quantitative result for optimal dietary planning
- Provide a guidebook to help you interpret and understand your results
Disclaimer: Food Intolerance Testing is separate from what is offered with the Creighton Model of FertilityCare System. The information provided is for educational purposes only. It is not meant as medical advice and we recommend you seek the advice of a healthcare professional