Heres what experts say about food sensitivities and whether you should bother testing for them at home.
How Do At-Home Food Sensitivity Tests Work?
For a lot of these tests, an elevated IgG is reported as a food that has higher reactivity.
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The immune system makes immunoglobulins to fight substances such as bacteria, viruses, and other harmful pathogens.
There are different types of immunoglobulins, includingIgG, IgM, IgA, IgD, and IgE.
In fact, higher levels of IgG may even be a normal immune response to food.
There is a big difference betweenfood allergies and food sensitivities.
A food allergy is rooted in your immune system and can be life-threatening.
Can You Buy an IgE At-Home Test?
There are some at-home foodallergytests that look for IgE antibodies in your blood sample.
If you see an at-home test for food sensitivities or intolerances, its probably checking IgG.
There are also some combination at-home tests that check for both IgE and IgG antibodies.
Manaker suggests evaluating whether you have an allergy with your healthcare provider instead of relying on at-home IgE tests.
People with severe food allergies can develop a reaction called anaphylaxis which can be deadly.
Food sensitivity is less severe and does not involve the immune system the way that a food allergy does.
Instead of producingIgE antibodies, the body may make IgG antibodies in response to certain foods.
The symptoms of food sensitivity are usually just felt in the GI systemthink bloating, gas, and diarrhea.
Some people have other symptoms like headaches and fatigue.
There are also differences between food sensitivities and intolerances.
Being intolerant to a certain food means that your body has trouble digesting it.
Are IgG Food Sensitivity Tests Worth It?
This can lead to a lot of unnecessary stress around eating and even disordered eating patterns.
And stress and food restriction may actually exacerbate any symptoms you haveespecially those that are related to digestion.
Anvari S, Miller J, Yeh CY, Davis CM.IgE-mediated food allergy.Clin Rev Allergy Immunol.
2012;8(1):12. doi:10.1186/1710-1492-8-12
