Food Allergies
Did You Know These Facts About Food Allergies?
- 3 out of 10 people have either immediate environmental allergies or immediate food allergies.
- The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has found that allergies are increasing. In 2018, they were the 6th leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S.
- Every 3 minutes a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency department…that’s more than 200,000 emergency department visits per year! Almost 10,000 people stay in the hospital each year because of food allergies.
- According to Dr. James Braly 60-80 million Americans suffer from clinically significant food allergies. A vast majority of them suffer delayed symptoms.
Food allergies can cause reactions, such as itching, swelling, hives, wheezing, shortness of breath, or allergic-like reactions called intolerances. In some cases people can have very severe reaction called anaphylaxis (life-threatening swelling of airways), which makes it difficult to breathe. Anaphylaxis reaction is common with shellfish, peanuts, and MonoSodium Glutamate (MSG). MSG is a flavor enhancer which is added to foods to make it taste better and get people hooked on the food. People who experience anaphylaxis reaction to food have to carry an EpiPen, which contains epinephrine that acts quickly to open the airway, allowing patient to breathe. For more information check out Dangers of MSG.
There are two types of food allergies: Immediate or Delayed. BetterHealthUsa.com has a pretty good description of them:
Immediate Food Allergy (IgE)
TYPE ONE toxic reactions are obvious. You know when you have one because your body suffers a notable and almost instant reaction (some people can die from strawberries or crab meat).
- Only 1 or 2 foods (rarely more) involved in causing allergic symptoms.
- Small, even trace amounts of food can trigger an intense allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis in which a fatal reaction can occur within minutes.
- Allergic symptoms commonly appear 2 hours or less after consumption of offending foods.
- Primarily affects the skin, airway and digestive tract manifesting in such “classical” allergies as asthma, rhinitis, urticaria, angioedema, eczema, vomiting, diarrhea and anaphylaxis.
- Common in children, rare in adults.
- Addictive cravings, withdrawal symptoms rare to nonexistent.
- With the exception of infants and young children, due to single food and immediate appearance of allergic symptoms, the offending food is commonly self -diagnosed. As a result, many patients never see a physician.
- Allergic food is food that is rarely eaten.
- Commonly a permanent, fixed food allergy.
- Frequently IgE “RAST” positive and skin test positive.
- Although mixed immediate/delayed onset allergic reactions have been reported (e.g., eczema), IgG antibody not characteristically involved.
- Mast cells, basophils, histamine and tryptase release commonly involved.
Delayed Food Allergy (IgG)
TYPE TWO reactions are not immediate, making them almost impossible to detect without sophisticated testing.
- 3 to 10 food allergens may be clinically involved (over 20 foods reported in some cases). Rare for only one or two foods to be clinically allergenic.
- Larger amounts of food, often in multiple feedings, commonly needed to provoke allergic symptoms. Reactions may not occur after a single food challenge.
- Allergic symptoms commonly appear 2 to 24 hours after offending foods are eaten. (Symptoms appearing 48 to 72 hours later have been regularly reported).
- Virtually any tissue, organ, or system of the human body can be affected, including the so-called “classical” allergic areas.
- Very common in children and adults (well over 50 medical conditions and 200 symptoms have been reported to be provoked, worsened or caused by allergic reactions to foods). Click here for our symptoms list.
- Addictive cravings and withdrawal symptoms clinically significant in 20 to 30% of patients.
- Due to multiple foods and delayed onset of symptoms, the offending foods are rarely self-diagnosed. Multiple doctor visits involving different physicians are the rule, not the exception, before proper diagnosis and treatment is provided.
- Allergic foods are commonly favorite foods, frequently eaten, and eaten in larger amounts. Allergy to foods is commonly reversible. Symptoms often clear following 3-6 months of avoidance and nutritional therapy.
- Skin test negative, IgE “RAST” negative. This is a non-IgE antibody-mediated allergic reaction to foods.
- IgG ELISA (Type II) positive; IgG food immune complex (Type III) and/or cellular (Type IV) reactions may be involved as well.
- Sensitized lymphocytes, eosinophils, platelets, release of PAF and leukotrienes may be more prevalent.
We have seen both immediate and delayed allergies in our friends and family. Immediate reactions to some foods, such as peanuts, shellfish, MonoSodium Glutamate (MSG) can be life threatening anaphylactic reaction. However, some people may experience lighter reactions, such as headaches. The delayed food allergies are often referred to as food sensitivities because you don’t experience an immediate reaction. According to the doctors and healthcare experts, the symptoms usually appear between 2 to 48 hours, but it is very common for symptoms to appear 48-72 hours after you eat the food so obviously they are very difficult to pinpoint. However, we believe there is an easy way to figure out which foods might be the culprit without using any medications.
| An IgG test can help with over 50 medical conditions and 200 symptoms, including over 100 chronic conditions. The good news is that you don’t have to take any medications or risky drugs. All you need is a simple blood test. |
Cure for Delayed Food Allergies
We have been able to successfully cure almost all the delayed food reactions by using the IgG tests. It is not uncommon for people to be sensitive to several dozen foods, but the level of sensitivity varies from low to high. Some of the delayed food reaction can be very uncomfortable and cause reactions like severe chest pains, but unfortunately the medical community has no cure for delayed food reactions. The allergists can do a skin prick test on your arm (or back) for up to 50 different types of foods, which looks for immediate reaction to foods (the IgE test). The allergist then may tell you that you are totally fine and you should go out and eat anything you want. However, some of the common food reactions are not immediate so this test won’t help anyone who has delayed reactions, which by the way are very common and that’s what we have encountered.
Medical doctors agree that there is such a thing as delayed reaction to foods, but most (not all) will also tell you they don’t have any tests for delayed food reactivity. If you are lucky, you will find a doctor who believes in Alternative Medicine and will suggest an IgG or IgE test. After much pain and suffering, we ran into a naturopathic doctor who suggested an IgG blood test from Immuno Laboratories in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to determine if we had delayed reactions to certain foods. THAT LITERALLY CHANGED OUR LIFE!
Immuno Laboratories is one of the leading toxic food and environmental testing facilities in the world. It’s state and federally licensed laboratory. They claim they have done over 33 million food sensitivity tests with 97% of the physicians testing for ten years or more. They also point out that 95% of the people they test show that one or more food they eat is causing a toxic reaction in their body.
According to Immuno Laboratories:
“Years ago scientists discovered your body has an internal chemical balance that is as unique to you as your fingerprint. Likewise, every food you eat has its own “chemical balance” – a unique set of natural or man-made chemicals. As your body reacts differently to each and every food, the food you eat each day will enhance proper body chemistry, or disrupt the correct balance. In fact, 95% of the people we’ve tested show that one or more foods they regularly eat cause a toxic reaction in their body.
The way we measure how your body reacts to the foods you eat is through the Bloodprint® test, which pinpoints the foods that support healthy body chemistry and those that are toxic to you.”
The lab offers two types of tests:
1. Bloodprint (IgG Test)
- This test is for delayed allergic reaction to certain foods.
- Very common in adults and children. This is the test that we have been using.
- Useful if you suffer from chronic conditions.
There are several Bloodprint tests the lab offers, such as Bloodprint 154, Bloodprint 115, Bloodprint 88, etc. The number at the end represents the number of foods that are tested in that test.
2. Environment & Food Allergy (IgE Test)
- This test is for immediate allergic reaction to certain foods, dust, pollen, animal dander, etc. You may be familiar with this type of skin prick testing because this is the test medical doctors perform. The blood test is much more comfortable, especially for the children.
- Very common in children, less common in adults.
Immuno Laboratories was recommended to us by our naturopath physician and in our experience it’s the best lab for the food allergy tests. Immuno Laboratories does both IgE (immediate food allergy) tests and IgG (delayed food allergy) tests. If you have any questions, you can contact Immuno Laboratories. They can also help you locate a doctor or the local lab that will draw blood. The medical doctors usually won’t draw blood and send your sample to any lab that does IgG tests because the medical community believes IgG tests are not accurate. If you ask them to do their own test that’s accurate, they will tell you that there is no test at all for delayed food allergies that is offered by medical community, even though they believe people suffer from delayed food allergies. We are totally sold on IgG test because it has consistently worked for us. Because we are not taking any medications, we’re only sending a sample of our blood to the lab, we feel this is a great way to stay healthy by avoiding the foods that our body doesn’t like.
| There’s a 95% chance that the food that you eat every day is actually toxic to your system. An IgG test is helpful in finding out which toxic foods you should avoid. |
Our Personal Experience
Many doctors, including Dr. Sheryl B. Miller, will tell you that where the tests are done is very important. We have tried different labs recommended by multiple doctors and have come to a conclusion that the results from tests conducted at Immuno Laboratories in Florida are by far the most accurate. If one year we eat unusually large amounts of certain food, it may show up on our test result as reactive. The lab doesn’t know what we are eating an excessive amount of food. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that every food that we eat in large quantities will cause reaction. It simply proves that based on our blood sample, their tests are reliable. However, the most convincing proof of the accuracy of their lab tests is the fact that if we quit eating foods that show up on the IgG sensitivity list for a year, the next year we can go back to eating that food and experience no reaction. At one point, with the help of our naturopath doctor, we decided to send our blood sample to two different labs at the same time. The results showed that Immuno Laboratories tests were clearly more accurate so we decided in future we will stick with them. However, you may want to try different labs each year until you find the one you like and gives you the best results.
The IgG test from Immuno Laboratories that we use is called Bloodprint 115. The test costs $300. The results show reactive and non-reactive foods. The reactive foods range in severity level from 1-4 in increasing levels of antibodies. We can safely eat Level 1 and Level 2 foods by rotating them over a period of several days, while we avoid foods that are Level 3 and Level 4. These are just general guidelines. You should rely on your naturopath physician or Immuno Laboratories for recommendations for your specific situation. The lab gives you a booklet full of information and even a food rotation schedule. You are then supposed to work with your naturopath to come up with a plan. Because we have done this test so many times, we simply get the test kit from our naturopath and because our naturopath doesn’t offer the service to draw blood, we go to a lab in town who draws our blood and sends it directly to Immuno Laboratories. If you can’t find a doctor or a lab to draw your blood in your town, simply call Immuno Laboratories. They are always very willing to help. We ask the lab to email us the results. When we get the results back we totally avoid foods that are Level 2, 3, and 4 (again you should rely on your healthcare expert’s recommendation). Sometimes if we keep eating Level 1 or Level 2 foods, they go to Level 3 or 4. Again, the lab doesn’t know that we regularly keep eating foods that are reactive, but our blood doesn’t lie and their test results tell the accurate story. Sometimes it takes years of avoiding a food for the severity level to drop. For example, it took us almost 10 years before we were able to go back to eating oats. It was at Level 1 or 2, so we ate oats for a while, but then decided to stop eating it until it completely dropped out of the reactive list. Once in a while the food that was dropped from the list, like almonds or wheat, may show up on the list at a later time.
As pointed out earlier, people usually get allergic to foods that their favorite foods, eaten frequently, and eaten in larger quantities. Typically, the food allergies are reversed in 3-6 months after avoiding the food. However, you won’t know if you are no longer reactive to certain foods until you do another IgG test. We don’t do more than one test a year.
By using this IgG test for over 10 years, we feel we have figured out a way to avoid food sensitivities and stay healthy. You don’t have to keep taking this test each year if you are healthy. However, we strongly recommend IgG test to all our friends and family. This is by far the best, cheapest, and most convenient way to stay healthy and avoid chronic, nagging illnesses that cause a lot of stress and damage to our system.
What Can IgG Test Do For You?
Food allergy tests, such as IgE and IgG Bloodprint tests from Immuno Laboratories can help with the following types of chronic conditions, ailments, and symptoms. Most of the items listed below are from BetterHealthUSA’s checklist, which is part of Immuno Laboratories.
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The above is not a complete list by any means. It just gives you an idea of what an IgG test can do for you. This test is way cheaper and safer than visiting multiple doctors for years and trying all kinds of medications with serious side affects. We plan to do this testing every year, even if we don’t have any symptoms or ailments, because it’s part of our future plan of proactively staying healthy.
Money Back Guarantee
Immuno Laboratories claim that “We are the only laboratory offering a written money-back guarantee with our food sensitivity testing. You will feel better when you follow our program, we guarantee it!” It’s interesting that Dr. James Braly (see his article under Additional Resources) says that “In an ideal world, I like getting a guarantee from a testing laboratory. What does it say when a laboratory won’t guarantee their testing?” Well, we know that Immuno Laboratories is one lab that guarantees its testing.
Additional Resources
- 3-Step Checklist for Symptoms Like Headaches, Digestive Disorders, and Weight Problem
- When you have allergic food reactions, do you know which kind……Immediate (IgE) or Delayed (IgG)?
- IgG Food Allergy Testing by ELISA/EIA (Dr. Sheryl Miller, PhD)
- IgG ELISA Delayed Food Allergy Testing (Dr. James Braly, M.D.)
- Food Allergy Articles
- Immuno Laboratories Blog
- IgE 36 Airborne & Food Allergy Assays
- Symptom Checklist Used by 30,000 Doctors
- Free Symptom Worksheet
Other than using them for IgG testing, we have no relationship with the Immuno Laboratories and don’t benefit in any ways (financially or otherwise) by mentioning their name. We get no kickbacks, no money, no nothing!