How can you tell if you have a food allergy? Well you can do one of various food allergy tests . There a number of ways you can understand your food allergies and sensitivities through testing.
Allergy Elimination Diet and Challenge Test
The most accurate (and probably the most difficult) test method involves removing all of the foods that commonly create problems until the symptoms clear up. Then foods are slowly and individually reintroducing every fourth or fifth day. While you reintroduce the foods, you will monitor your response to see if you experience any adverse reactions or symptoms. This method is called the the Allergy Elimination Diet and Challenge. It is also the most likely one to be used for identifying food intolerances. It is more difficult to do because it can take a lot of time and patience to slowly introduce the foods. However
Professional help is needed for the other types of tests in order to accurately diagnose food allergies. These test require using various laboratory and clinical diagnostic procedures.
Skin Prick Test
In a Skin Prick Test, the skin is exposed to an allergic substance by sticking the skin with a needle and implanting a small amount of the allergen (offending substance). If the practitioner observes a immune response, such as rashes or even anaphylaxis, it is concluded that the person is allergic to the substance. Other testing methodologies have advantages over traditional skin (dermal) testing, which is not very sensitive for detecting delayed food allergies.
The easiest food allergy test method is the ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay). It identifies food-specific antibodies, IgE and IgG present in your blood. Antibodies are part of your body's seek and destroy mechanism, where the antibodies seeks out bad or offending agents (or antigens) in the body and neutralizes them. If the test identifies that you have food specific antibodies, it can be concluded that your body is having an immune reaction to that type of food. This food allergy test method can be useful for evaluating inhalants as well as food sensitivities, including food combinations.
If your food intolerance is limited to one or two types of foods, no food allergy test is needed. Simply eliminating these foods from your diet will often relieve your symptoms. In no time you may be able to add these foods back into your diet on an occasional or rotational basis. Eating a detox diet for a short period of time and eliminating the food is a helpful way to boost the immune system and strengthen the liver to help your body overcome the symptoms. See the How to Detox or Liver Detox page for suggestions of how to detox.
It is beneficial for you to eat a diet with a wider variety of healthy foods, and systematically rotate food groups. This often decreases the likelihood of creating further food allergies.