Understanding my Food Sensitivity results

How accurate are the Food Sensitivity test results?

The laboratories that process Everlywell Food Sensitivity tests are CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited laboratories. All of these labs perform frequent internal quality checks and testing, as well as regular inspections and validation of the accuracy of the testing they perform, and all of the at-home sample collection testing we offer customers has been thoroughly validated against traditional testing conducted in doctor’s offices and clinics.

High Reactivity

Elevated levels of IgG reaction to a certain food does not necessarily mean you have an intolerance, but research shows that by eliminating foods that cause an IgG reaction, you can potentially improve certain food-related symptoms - including gastrointestinal distress, headaches, dry and itchy skin, and fatigue.

Elimination Diets

There are many types of elimination diets out there and we recommend a couple of different options. This is meant to help you identify a problematic food. Please keep in mind that IgG reactivity does not necessarily correlate directly with symptoms, so your results are meant to guide you through the next steps of the process. We typically advise that you eliminate class 3 and class 2 foods first. If you didn't have any results in those categories then you can focus on the high class 1's and work them into your trial elimination diet. You will receive some level of reactivity to every single food tested in our panel. The foods with normal reactivity are considered to be 'class 0' or normal IgG reactivity and you do not have to worry about including these in your elimination diet plan. Here is more detail on two elimination diet options:

1. Elimination diet (focuses on high or moderate reactivity) - remove all these foods from your diet for 4 weeks. Begin reintroducing one food at a time, ideally 3 days apart, and see how your body reacts.

2. Elimination diet (any Class, including mild) - remove all class 1-3 foods from your diet for 30 days. Begin reintroducing one food at a time, and it’s advised to stick to one serving size of the food that you’re reintroducing. Check out the Nutrition Facts Label or do a quick internet search for the appropriate serving size for each food. Do not eat it on days 2-4 and pay close attention to your symptoms (if you have any). Then you can start the process over again with the next food. This process is very tedious but it’s great at pinpointing which foods are causing the most symptoms.

Read more about the elimination diets here.

Gluten-Free Diet

If you have been avoiding gluten, it is possible that you do not have elevated circulating IgG antibodies to gluten in your sample. We are only looking at the IgG immune response on this test.

However, there are many names for gluten so while people may have stopped eating processed foods that have "gluten" listed on the label, that does not always mean they have actually removed all sources of gluten from their diet.

“But I’ve never eaten….”

Unexpected results can indicate dietary exposures to certain foods you weren't aware of previously. This includes hidden sources in pre-packaged foods or supplements. We'd be happy to provide more detail on a specific food; email us at [email protected].

Raw Food vs Cooked Food

The vast majority of antigens do not change based on cooked or raw ingestion. The only one that does is egg yolk Gal d5 antigen.

Reference Ranges

Below you will find the reference ranges we use for each marker. There are four classifications of reactivity, 0-3, with 0 being normal and 3 being highly reactive. Remember, you can click on each food in your results to see more details about that food and see your number score. Once you know all the foods you have a Class 1-3 reaction to, you can choose how you want to proceed with an elimination diet.

Class 0 (Normal Reactivity)

Class 1 (Mild Reactivity)

Class 2 (Moderate Reactivity)

Class 3 (High Reactivity)

If you have any food-specific questions, please email us at [email protected].