Food Allergy Testing?

[5unny]

Has anyone had this done?

I'm not too sure about the 'skin scratch/prick' test but was looking into the test where you send them a sample of your blood and they test for anti-bodies etc.

Can anyone reccomend a lab or company who does this?

Cheers.

Sunny.

[Stegel]

Can only help with gluten intolerance - distinct from an allergy. Blood test very reliable (something like 98%) although recommended to have a gastroscopy as confirmation. Know a few people who have had scratch test and deem themselves gluten intollerant, usually as part of a suite of other allergens, but completely ignores the science. Your GP can arrange.

[Mattlan]

I used to work for a company called Yorktest. Pinprick samples followed by full blood tests if req. Had some amazing results

[SpudMurphy]

Very difficult to do accurately. Generally of little or no practical value. Most often a complete scam.
Don't waste your time/money.
HTH.

[oldbanger]

I had the pinprick tests as a child, my daughter has also had them. All done on the NHS. Obviously they may be quackery if other posters think so, but the antibody tests can give also a false negative if it's something you don't eat/come into contact with frequently.

For me the prick tests fairly accurately (and dramatically - some of the resulting blisters were more than 1cm across) proved allergies I was already telling my parents I had - grass pollen, dairy, for example. For my daughter it's a bit early to tell really.

Edited by oldbanger on Monday 30th November 23:35

[thepeoplespal]

Stegel said:

Can only help with gluten intolerance - distinct from an allergy. Blood test very reliable (something like 98%) although recommended to have a gastroscopy as confirmation. Know a few people who have had scratch test and deem themselves gluten intollerant, usually as part of a suite of other allergens, but completely ignores the science. Your GP can arrange.

The blood test we get done for patients will only really work if you have had a reasonably strong reaction in the the days/week or so before the test (avoiding the product you think you have an allergy or intolerance to would be counter-productive), if the blood test does not meet a certain level the further tests aren't done. Lots of people professing to have allergies don't, but I have seen strongly positive ones for crab and seafood, with the odd nut allergy, in the 25 odd tests results I've in the last few years.

I've been told that for the NHS skin prick tests, they are pretty useless for intolerances (a negative test does not rule an intolerance out), but they will find genuine allergies, basically if the reaction is larger than the histamine control the test shows an allergy is present.

[Miss Pitstop]

I've had problems with my eyes (a bit like conjunctivitis but goes as quickly as it comes) for years and I had a run of flair ups a few years ago. The GP basically told me if I hadn't worked out the trigger by now, allergy testing was a waste of time.

That wasn't very helpful so I went privately to a woman who did a test where she put an electrode on my toe and sent a current around my body which plugged into essence of various foods/materials - I thought she was mental but I was desperate to sort out my eyes. The machine she used gave a particular signal if I didn't agree with something.

She gave me a list of foods to avoid and within a few weeks (on a very dull diet) my eyes had stopped flairing up. I am now back on those foods but I needed a complete break from them apparently to stop the cycle. I do get the odd flair up but nothing like I used to get, and I know how to sort them now.

It cost about £50 and whilst she was a bit "hippy dippy" I have to say it worked a treat for me.