Many people have trouble distinguishing whether or not they are allergic to certain foods or they have increased sensitivity or intolerance. Food allergy and sensitivity testing can be performed at home by the help of various kits that are available on the market. Food allergy testing kits will help you determine common foods that negatively stimulate your immune system and test the sensitivity. The most common mistake is that, often, people tend to confuse food sensitivity to food allergies.
- 1 Allergy and intolerance (sensitivity) difference
- 2 How fast do food allergy and food intolerance reactions appear?
- 3 Food allergy symptoms
- 4 Food intolerance symptoms chart
- 5 Top foods that are allergic the most
- 6 Food Allergy, Intolerance and Sensitivity Testing
- 7 Food allergy and intolerance test kits
- 8 What to do if you are diagnosed with food allergy or intolerance?
Allergy and intolerance (sensitivity) difference
Allergic reaction is a result of your immune system wrongfully attacking a protein which exists in various food products. When such protein enters the human body, the immune system creates an antibody which is called immunoglobulin E (IgE). The main purpose for this antibody is to destroy the so called intruding protein.
Food intolerance is an unwanted body reaction too (as is allergy). However, the difference is that food allergy is caused by immune system and food intolerance is caused by digestive system. In this case, antibodies are not involved in negative reactions regarding food intolerance. Certain food products are hard to digest because of lack of digestive enzymes. Also, food intolerance might be caused by various chemical compounds like lactose. For example, we call people lactose intolerant when the enzyme that breaks down lactose (milk sugar) is missing.
How fast do food allergy and food intolerance reactions appear?
Usually food allergic reaction might appear very quickly, no later than two hours after eating allergenic food. Food intolerance reaction, on the other hand, are slow and symptoms might only be visible in a couple of days.
Food allergy symptoms
- Runny nose
- Itchy eyes or palate
- Coughing and sneezing
- Swelling of body parts or whole body
- Shortness of breath
- Vomiting or diarrhoea
- Skin rashes
Food intolerance symptoms chart
|Diarrhea||Weight control problems||Fluid retention||Sweating at night||Depression|
|Constipation||Abdominal bloating||Itchy skin, eczema||Anxiety||Celiac disease|
|Inflammatory bowel disease||Sleep disorder||Migraine||Chronic fatigue syndrome||Bronchitis|
|Hyperactivity||Insomnia||Malabsorption syndrome||Irritable bowel syndrome||Asthma|
|Gastritis||Headache||Fibromyalgia||Attention disorder syndrome||Arthritis|
If you have any of these food intolerance symptoms which are listed below and you have been trying to diagnose the origin, it might be associated with food intolerance. There might be several symptoms occurring at once due to food intolerance.
Top foods that are allergic the most
In theory, any food can be allergic. However, only a few are responsible for more than 90% of food allergic reactions. Here is the list of the most allergic foods:
- Other nuts
- Sea food
Food Allergy, Intolerance and Sensitivity Testing
You can perform food allergy and sensitivity and other various food intolerance tests in health institutions and medical centres.
Perform food sensitivity testing by writing a food journal and eliminating food products one by one. For example, write down the symptoms that you are suffering from like abdominal cramp, exhaustion, joint pain and others. Then, each week eliminate a food product like eggs or dairy and see if the symptoms are still there. If they are still persistent, eliminate products that have gluten and continue to observe.
Food allergy and intolerance test kits
Home food intolerance kits are great tools to help you figure out if you are allergic or food intolerant.
How it works?
Firstly, you purchase the kit. You collect the samples (blood, hair or saliva) and you ship it out to the test kit company. In a few days you will receive an online result chart. Keep in mind that the process is fairly easy and there are detailed instructions included in the test kits.
Although food intolerance test kits are fairly expensive, but they can save you time and money and a trip to medical centre as you can perform food sensitivity testing at home, ship out the samples and receive results. Here are a few food intolerance test kits that we would recommend.
Best food intolerance test kits
This food allergy, sensitivity and intolerance test kit can test your reaction to 96 common foods which is more than enough to figure out if you have food intolerance. This test kit sample requires only a few drops of blood which is a quick and easy process. You send the samples back to the company and you will receive your results fast and secure.
This food intolerance kit is able to test your food allergies and food intolerance at once. Furthermore, this kit uses hair samples so it is a better alternative if you are not very keen on drawing your own blood. Not to mention, this company claims that they test you sample and send you the results way faster than their competition.
This company also provides test kits for children and even pets.
This is yet another great test kit which offers the ability to collect saliva samples. It will test for food (milk, soy, egg) allergy and sensitivity and gluten sensitivity. This company offers a pre-paid shipping label for your sample which is nice. The results can be sent by email or express mail. This company also guarantees complete privacy for your results.
What to do if you are diagnosed with food allergy or intolerance?
You should not bring yourself down if you are diagnosed with food allergy or intolerance. It is not the end of the world. You can always find food products that you can easily substitute. For example, if you are allergic to milk, you can try vegetable milk or almond milk. If you are allergic to eggs, substitute them with chia seeds. Substitute wheat flour with buckwheat flour.
In general, any food intolerance can be combated significantly with proper nutrition and diet.