I don’t know how many people reading this post are following a food-sensitivity diet regimen or are supporting someone who is, but I’m sure there are some. So let me say first of all that my purpose here is not to offend but to inform. I got a little tickled/horrified recently with some comments regarding my keto diet posts. One woman said, in essence, “Why is Debi doing this? She’s not going to make any money by keto-diet bashing.” Then she named some diet celebrity whose name I can’t remember and said, in essence, that this woman had a financial motive for criticizing the keto diet since she touts her own diet plan, so her attitude makes sense. But mine doesn’t. (The commenter also left out of her equation that supporters of the keto diet, such as Eric Berg, also have financial motivations.)
But I’m in the camp that says, “Here’s good solid information that has a scientific basis. I hope it’s helpful. Yes, I may have something for sale (so, for instance, at some point I plan to have a book/cookbook available on this site), and that’s perfectly legitimate, but what I’m selling or promoting is true, as far as I can determine. You don’t have to take my word for it. I’m not aiming to be anybody’s guru.” If you think about it, the whole world of information-peddlers can be divided into the truth-tellers and the scam-sellers. Let me be clear about one thing, though: It’s perfectly possible to be in the scammer business and truly believe in the scam. I’m going to guess, though, that the people at the top do know. Or they know without admitting to themselves that they know.
With that said, let me now dive into our subject for today: food-sensitivity testing. Here’s what this whole little world consists of:
1. People who have various health issues that aren’t in the camp of easily-diagnosed and treated issues: pain, fatigue, digestive distress, to name a few. As I’ve said before, these conditions often have complicated causes, including stress, lack of sleep and lack of exercise. And these problems don’t have clear boundaries. Stress, resulting from the workplace or the home, can and usually does cause sleep problems, thus leading to fatigue, thus leading to lack of desire to exercise, and the vicious circle keeps going around. Digestive issues may stem from true physical causes, such as an allergy or an intolerance, but since the human gut is actually a whole separate nervous system, it’s just as prone to psychological problems as our primary emotional pathways in the brain. We all know this. I went around for at least a year back when I was in college with stomach pain, but it didn’t have a physical cause. I was upset over the fact that I knew I needed to break up with my boyfriend but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. As I sit here typing these words I can remember how sick I felt every single day, especially during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. But it had nothing to do with the food I ate.
Note this, though, before I go on: The foregoing does not in any way seek to minimize the very real distress that people are feeling. My feelings were real. In a way it was “all in my head,” or rather, “all in my gut,” but to say that is not to imply that I didn’t need help. It would have been great if I’d had someone wiser than I in whom to confide, who could have said, “Debi, you know what you need to do and you just need to do it. I’ll pray with you and then we can strategize about how you should approach the breakup conversation. We can even act it out.” But I didn’t have anyone like that, so the breakup didn’t happen until a whole year later. What a waste!
2. Doctors who have neither the training nor the time to address these complex issues. I’ve addressed this issue before, notably in my January post about “Three Human Drives that Feed Into Fad Diets,” so I won’t re-state all my points here.
3. Some type of alternative treatments that promises relief. Again, I’d encourage you to read my earlier post. I make the point there, and re-state it here, that whatever type of practitioner you visit is going to recommend his own specialty. (To be clear: a conventional specialist could also have this “everything looks like a nail I can hit with my hammer” mentality, but there should be scientifically-based tests to back up any diagnosis.) So perhaps you’ve heard that food sensitivity tests are the way to go. Someone tells you that she got real help with her problems So you can do one of two things to pursue a sensitivity diagnosis:
–Go to a food-sensitivity testing facility in person; these places will often have the word “wellness” in the name. Have blood drawn and get your results.
–Send in a blood sample to an online facility; one of the biggest is EverlyWell, and wait for the results. (See the end of this post for an article on the lack of scientific evidence for this company’s tests.)
You’ll get a list of forbidden foods that are supposedly causing you problems. Your heart will probably sink as you look at all these items you can no longer eat, but, on the other hand, maybe you’ll be reassured. ‘Hey,’ you might think, ‘I’m not imagining things! No wonder I feel so bad. I’ve been eating all of the wrong things!’ Since food-sensitivity tests are not considered within legitimate medical practice, you’ve paid for this test out of pocket. (The EverlyWell one-time test costs $159, but I’ve seen other prices cited that range from $300 to $700.) All of these tests are showing reactions of common foods to a protein called Immunoglobulin G, usually shortened to IgG. This is a different protein from IgE, which actually does have some legitimacy in testing for actual food allergies, although most reputable allergists today don’t see it as particularly definitive and don’t use it. But here’s what the science says about IgG tests:
They are exposure tests, not sensitivity tests.
In other words, what shows up on these tests is what you eat most commonly. And what substances show up on pretty much every single list? Well, definitely gluten, dairy, corn and soy. I would be astonished if there were one single person who has taken the test that didn’t have those substances listed, unless—and here’s the important point—that person were already banning them. I would strongly urge you, if you’re reading this and have been forcing yourself to follow the extremely-restrictive diet that always results from these tests, to read the informative articles below. And/or get together with a few of your fellow/sister food-sensitivity sufferers and compare lists. Folks, they’re going to be basically identical, at least in the major food groups listed. I ask you, how likely is it that everyone is sensitive to the same foods?
Once you’ve gone on the sensitivity diet you’ll be urged to get re-tested periodically to see how you’re doing. Notice the means here of getting you to shell out more money. (EverlyWell has several subscription plans.) And since it’s an exposure test and not an actual sensitivity test, if you’ve been strict with yourself about following the guidelines, what will the followup test(s) show? Why, you’re doing better! Your sensitivities are going down! Yay for you!
Well, I’ve gone way over my word limit for this post, so I’ll stop here. Next up: Why do people feel better as they follow a food sensitivity diet even if it has no validity?
In the meantime, I’ll link to two good articles:
“A ‘Shark Tank’-funded test for food sensitivity is medically dubious, experts say.“