Understanding Food Sensitivities
Food sensitivities and allergies spark adverse reactions to particular ingredients but have distinct mechanisms causing differing symptoms and severity. Allergies prompt immediate immunologic responses like hives or anaphylaxis to trigger foods in small doses, while sensitivities to certain foods, food chemicals, or additives induce delayed inflammatory symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and gastrointestinal distress in a dose-dependent manner. Despite not producing acute reactions, regularly consuming sensitive items may promote pathogenesis over time by incurring chronic inflammation. Both conditions can considerably reduce quality of life through short and long term reactions if triggers are not identified and eliminated. Distinguishing sensitivity-derived symptoms from allergic responses is key for proper management.
What is a Food Sensitivity Test?
The Vibrant Wellness Food Sensitivity Complete test is a blood screening that identifies immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies to over 250 common dietary ingredients including foods, additives, and other compounds. It checks for reactive antibodies tied to food sensitivities to pinpoint triggers specific to an individual causing inflammation or other chronic symptoms when consumed. The test provides a detailed sensitivity profile empowering patients and practitioners to address diet-related symptoms and inflammation.
How is the Test Performed?
The Food Sensitivity Complete test checks blood levels of immunoglobulins by having blood drawn at an approved lab facility. At the draw appointment, a trained phlebotomist will collect the blood sample necessary for the test. All collection materials and labels are provided to ensure proper handling.
What Sensitivities are Tested?
The Vibrant Wellness Food Sensitivity Complete test checks for sensitivities to over 200 common foods found in the Western diet, including dairy, fish, meat, shellfish, legumes, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and grains. It also checks for 57 different food additives and chemicals. This comprehensive panel aims to identify triggers exacerbating conditions like leaky gut, chronic inflammation, and autoimmunity through hypersensitivities affecting over 250 different dietary components.
Who Should Consider This Test?
The test can provide invaluable insights for nearly anyone experiencing unresolved health issues or difficult-to-pinpoint symptoms. By assessing reactivities to dietary components, the test often reveals stealth triggers hiding in regular foods. These hidden aggravators subtly promote inflammation, gastrointestinal disruption, headaches, fatigue,an and array of other issues. Getting clarity connecting vague complaints to particular problem foods allows tailored elimination diets and lifestyle changes.
Those struggling with inflammation-mediated conditions, autoimmunity, leaky gut, sporadic flare-ups of skin reactions or asthma, and other treatment-resistant symptoms tend to gain significant management improvements from the wealth of data processing such an expansive assay provides. Determining individual trigger items remains key to solving many idiopathic health conditions - making broad food sensitivity testing widely useful for creating targeted solutions.
Symptoms and Risk Factors
Food sensitivity symptoms accumulate over weeks or months as exposure continues through regular meals. However, collective inflammation sparks more noticeable patterns like:
- Multiple chemical sensitivity
- Skin: Itchy skin, rashes, eczema, hives, dermatitis
- Weight fluctuation: weight gain or inability to lose weight
- Behavioral issues: irritability, mood swings, hyperactivity, insomnia, nightmares
- Neurological: Headaches, migraines, dizziness, lack of coordination, difficulty concentrating, brain fog, tingles or prickles in skin
- Joint symptoms: stiffness, swelling, arthritis-like pain
- Narrowed breathing airways: sinus congestion, runny nose, asthma or bronchitis-like attacks
- Fatigue, including chronic tiredness, lethargy, muscle weakness, malaise
- Digestive disturbances: bloating, gas, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea or constipation, heartburn
The onset of issues relates to ingesting trigger items frequently over time versus isolated incidents. However, once sensitized, even small amounts may eventually provoke reactions. Risk factors for developing sensitivities include:
- Genetic predispositions
- Leaky gut/intestinal hyperpermeability
- Pre-existing inflammation or autoimmunity
- Significant mental or physical stress
- Excess antibiotic use disrupting gut flora
Understanding Your Test Results
The Vibrant Wellness Food Sensitivity Complete report delivers individualized results on reactivities to over 250 food items and additives. Our clinical team adeptly interprets the precise lab data to help patients understand the implications. Arming practitioners with clarity around personalized sensitivity profiles support targeted treatment plans. We consider knowledgeable interpretation of comprehensive food sensitivity profiles key to developing constructive solutions for patient health goals.
Preparing for Food Sensitivity Testing
Getting ready for the blood draw screening requires minimal preparation to ensure optimal results. As blood collection occurs at an external lab facility, preparation also involves scheduling a convenient draw appointment. Fasting is generally not necessary and no dietary restrictions are implemented before screening.
- Key Markers
- What to Expect
- Why It's Important
- Additional Resources
1. Follow our simple instructions to perform this test either at home or at a blood draw center.
2. Before testing:
- No need to fast—consume your normal diet.
- Your provider may ask you to discontinue medications or dietary supplements. Speak with your provider to learn more.
3. Send the test to our labs for analysis and work with your care provider to understand the results.
Food intolerance affects 15-20% of the population.
Food and food additive sensitivities contribute to leaky gut and harm the intestinal lining, causing inflammation.
With patients eating an average of three to six meals a day, removing food and food additive triggers is the quickest way to reduce systemic inflammation and immune system burden.
Symptoms of food sensitivity are generic and mimic other conditions, making diagnosis difficult and increasing unnecessary suffering.
Chronic inflammation is associated with serious diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and autoimmune disease.
The Vibrant Wellness Food Sensitivity Complete panel will allow you to get to the root of symptoms and build a personalized nutrition plan with your provider to eliminate inflammatory dietary triggers, balance your gut, and improve your lifestyle.
Frequently Asked Questions
The test uses high-density microarray technology proven over 95-100% accuracy for detecting IgG and IgA antibodies to over 200 foods & 57 additives. Quality protocols also eliminate statistical anomalies.
Antihistamines, steroids, probiotics and immune modulators may be held 1-2 weeks beforehand as directed. Other meds and supplements are fine to continue per normal.
No, the test measures antibodies already circulating so acute exposures do not alter detection of formed sensitivities. Eat normally before your blood draw without worrying about skewing results.
You will receive your personalized report within 2-3 weeks.
No dietary fasting or food restrictions are necessary leading up to the blood screening. Simply follow instructions from your functional medicine practitioner about supplements and medications.
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During your first 60-minute functional televisit, we will try to figure out what’s causing your current health problems. Contact us today at Internal Healing and Wellness MD in the Houston area and The Woodlands, we will make sure to provide you with a personalized functional medicine-based treatment plan so that you can begin working towards your goal of a better, healthier life.
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