Detecting Food Allergies Takes A Little Effort, But You Have Several Options!

Detecting food allergies can take any one of several forms, or you can use a combination.

The elimination diet is a good way to begin detecting food allergies if you don’t have any life-threatening ones. By eliminating suspected allergens for a period of time, then re-introducing them to test for a response (a “challenge”), you can from your food and symptom diary which foods are giving you trouble.

Doctors may give you a blood test for food allergies . The RAST will show which foods you have “classical allergies” to—these allergies usually involve the IgE antibody, and reactions happen shortly after exposure. The ELISA tests for IgG allergies. These are some of the “delayed allergies” or intolerances people experience.

In the skin prick test, or scratch test, a needle with some of the suspected allergen pricks or scratches your skin. If a red, raised area (or “wheal”) appears, you probably have a classical allergy to that food. The skin prick test will not show food intolerances, though.

In the provocation/neutralization method, a doctor will inject gradually increasing doses of a suspected allergen under your skin until a response is provoked. This response may be physical, such as raised blood pressure or nausea, or it may be mental, such as hyperactivity or sudden anger. You’ll then receive a neutralizing dose of the same allergen to “turn off” your symptoms. This method is especially good for what traditional allergists classify as food intolerances, but is not widely accepted in the medical community, partly due to the fact that it’s very time-consuming. Dr. Doris Rapp , author of the classic Is This Your Child? Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies in Children and Adults uses and recommends this method.

Another method for detecting food allergies, muscle response testing, is used primarily by alternative practitioners for detecting food allergies. You’ll usually given a sample of the allergen to hold, while the practitioner tests for muscle weakness by pushing down on one of your arms. If you can hold your arm up, the food does not present a problem. If you can’t hold your arm up, it is said that you have a “weakness” for that food—that is, the food somehow disrupts the flow of energy in the body.

This method is definitely not seen as credible by the medical establishment. In my experience, though, it does work—my husband and I have even tried it on each other. To find out more about MRT and the allergy treatment technique that utilizes it, check out the NAET website.

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