Understanding my Food Sensitivity results
In this article:
- How accurate are the Food Sensitivity test results?
- High Reactivity
- Elimination Diets
- Gluten-Free Diet
- “But I’ve never eaten….”
- Raw Food vs. Cooked Food
- Reference Ranges
How accurate are the Food Sensitivity test results?
All of the laboratories with whom we partner are considered industry leaders in their respective areas, with extensive histories and have performed millions of tests. All of them perform frequent internal quality controls and testing, as well as regular third-party testing for independent validation of the accuracy of their testing. Consistently, such validation shows a high degree (>95-99%) of results correlation. These results are continually made available to Everlywell. If you have questions about accuracy or quality of your test results please contact Everlywell by emailing us at [email protected]
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:
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.
“But I’ve never eaten….”
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.
If you have any food-specific questions, please email us at [email protected].