Food Intolerance Tests -a doctor gives his opinion

[Luisa22]

Some who might be thinking of taking food intolerance tests, either via home kits or private medicine, might be interested in this article:

msn.com/en-gb/health/other/...

I just saw it right now and thought I'd pass it on.

[Liz1234ty]

Hi, my GP was also sceptical and advised me to avoid wasting my money as the science to identify food intolerences simply is not there (yet). What is strange though is that some people do find they correctly identify their diet issues.

[Luisa22 in reply to Liz1234ty]

I suppose with some intolerances it's more clear-cut, such as lactose intolerance, or fructose, or gluten. But I can't help thinking that with just a little bit of applied intelligence and careful observance, we are capable of finding out that for ourselves by trial and error (or maybe when on the low FODMAP trial.)

And yes, perhaps a few people do get some useful help from food intolerance testing.

But one thing I have discovered about my own IBS is, I can go for two weeks or something and become convinced I cannot tolerate some food group, then all of a sudden, everything changes, and I can happily tolerate those foods again for maybe weeks on end. As IBS is so unpredictable! I am grateful when that happens, that I hadn't completely shunned those foods, believing I ought not to ever eat them.

[Liz1234ty in reply to Luisa22]

Yes, if the intolerance tests can become more accurate they could be helpful. Despite keeping a food diary and excluding some foods it took me literally years to work out that I am intolerant to soy (which is in loads of food items that cut across the traditional gluten, dairy, egg etc intolerances). BUT like you I find that it is variable both to amounts I can tolerate and also some random factor as what I can 'safely' eat does change. Argh!

[Luisa22 in reply to Liz1234ty]

Yes, soy is commonly used, and so is corn (or maize starch etc) Corn syrup is common too. It could take someone a long time to work out that those "little" additives in small print are upsetting them.

[xjrs in reply to Liz1234ty]

Hi Liz1234ty , the reason why some people find that these tests occasionally find foods that they are intolerant to, is that there are a number of usual culprits such as wheat or dairy. At this point it becomes a numbers game since statistically some foods may be more likely to cause food intolerances than others. Through these tests finding these foods becomes random chance. Equally through these tests some people could eliminate nutritional foods from their diets unnecessarily due to the tests being inaccurate.

[Liz1234ty in reply to xjrs]

Great point! I wish there were more IBS dieticians available on the NHS. I waited over a year to see someone and when I finally met them they did not know about the Low Fodmap diet in any detail and instead gave me a handout sheet to follow (that i could have downloaded from the internet!).

[Luisa22 in reply to xjrs]

Yes exactly. That's what I almost found myself doing (eliminating nutritional foods because I believed I had a negative reaction to them...re: IBS, not an allergic reaction or anything.) Yet I found a couple of weeks later, that I could eat those foods for some time with no problems at all! Then I began to realise the unpredictable nature of IBS, which can lead us down umpteen rabbit holes, believing this or that, because we happened to eat a certain food the day before a flare up.