What is food intolerance?

It’s important to discuss any symptoms you may have with your GP, so they can refer you for further tests to rule out any underlying conditions. If you are still suffering thereafter, it is at this point where you may wish to take a closer look at your diet.

There are misconceptions about food intolerance, and unfortunately some underestimate how uncomfortable and painful symptoms can be, simply writing it off as another, irrelevant niggle of the middle class! It’s sad to hear this as we know that dealing with chronic pain can be extremely draining both emotionally and physically. If you’ve been checked out by your doctor and think that changing your diet might help you then understanding your food intolerance can sometimes provide a first step to feeling better.

Can you test for a food intolerance?

In short, yes. There are several ways in which food intolerance can manifest itself, including coeliac disease and lactose intolerance. The majority of food intolerance sufferers though aren’t given a medical “label” and testing isn’t offered on the NHS.

For those who think they might have a food intolerance, the gold standard approach is to try an elimination diet, removing one food at a time to see if symptoms ease. However, the elimination diet is difficult to do without any prior knowledge about which combination of foods could be causing a reaction.

A food intolerance test carried out by taking a blood test can measure food-specific IgG antibodies which shows foods your body has an IgG antibody reaction to. Many use this approach to define their elimination diet, rather than starting with no knowledge.

What is IgG?

Immunoglobulin (IgG) is a type of antibody. Antibodies are major components of the immune system. In normal human blood IgG1 is the most prevalent making up 60-70% of the total IgG, followed by IgG2 (20-30%) and IgG3 (5-8%). IgG4 only consists of 1-4% of the food-specific IgG antibodies present.

Can I diagnose food intolerances by keeping a diary of what I eat and how I feel?

In most cases, people are sensitive to foods they eat every day, often several times a day. However, identifying which foods you are intolerant to by keeping a food diary can be hard as symptoms of food intolerance are delayed, often coming on hours, or even days, after eating the food. This means that the symptoms from one meal run into the symptoms from another meal.

Add the fact that reactions to several different foods may be going on, and you can see that it is virtually impossible to determine the specific food culprits just from using a diary.

Do I need to take a food intolerance test?

An IgG food intolerance test can pinpoint what foods and drinks your body could be reacting to which can be a useful starting point for an elimination diet. Usually there is more than one food and drink ingredient that the body is reacting to and, therefore, an IgG test could override the guesswork on what works for and against your body.

We will always encourage you to see your GP first to rule out any underlying conditions. Food intolerance is often the last possible cause people investigate for their symptoms. Did you know medically unexplained symptoms account for up to a fifth of GP consultations in the UK[1]? These symptoms include, tiredness, anxiety, skin issues and digestive problems.

How our blood tests compare to other methods:

At your fingertips, you have a range of tests online to choose from. There is hair testing which analyse a sample of your hair against energy fields all the way through to VEGA tests which measure the electromagnetic conductivity in the body. These food intolerance tests often appear to be cost-effective and found on discounted websites, but unfortunately these methods have no scientific basis and are not proven to work.

Results from these types of tests can lead to many foods being eliminated from the diet unnecessarily and research studies show that these tests provide information that is no better than chance.

You also have the option to choose the IgG method which, according to one study, “shows promise with clinically meaningful results. It has proven useful as a guide for elimination diets, with clinical impact for a variety of diseases[2]”. This is what we expertly specialise in at yorktest – a leading provider in IgG food intolerance testing.

We are different compared to the many food intolerance companies out there. Not only do we hold substantial evidence to support IgG food intolerance testing, but we’re in a unique position with 35 years of experience, a wealth of customer feedback and proven robust methodologies that work.

How much does it cost to get a food intolerance test?

Let’s compare food intolerance tests to buying a car. You’ve seen a car that has taken your interest, but it doesn’t feature a built-in Satnav, it has high mileage and the garage isn’t reputable. It’s relatively inexpensive and there’s uncertainty how long you will see the benefits of having a car, or whether it’ll fail you straight after you’ve bought it. When that happens, you have no safety net in terms of guarantee and support to fall back on.

There’s another car that you’ve seen which you’re also interested in. It has a built-in Satnav, so you have extra guidance in terms of where you’d like to drive to. The price is more expensive than the first car, but it has a reliable track history and has a money-back guarantee and aftercare support in place should you need it

You wouldn’t take a gamble on buying a car, so why would you take a gamble on a food intolerance test which has no basis in science, offers no aftercare and has no substantial studies behind it?

Here at yorktest, we care about our customers. We don’t provide you with a food intolerance kit and leave you wondering what to do next. This is why we provide a start-to-end service, packed with post-care support in the form of nutritional therapist consultations and ongoing support from our Customer Care team in between.