Sometimes certain foods can make you feel unwell, regardless of whether they’re healthy.

它们可能会触发任何数量的食物敏感性症状,例如头痛,消化问题,关节疼痛或皮肤问题。

It can be tricky to figure out which foods are responsible since food sensitivity reactions may not happen until a few hours or longer after you eat the foods.

帮助identify the specific foods that cause adverse reactions, some health professionals may offer food sensitivity tests.

Here’s a closer look at what food sensitivities are and the best tests to identify them.

Three different terms are commonly used for adverse reactions to foods:食物过敏,食物敏感性, 和food intolerance. However, not everyone defines these terms the same way.

“食物过敏”一词最好保留在潜在地威胁生命的食物反应的情况下,该反应涉及免疫系统的免疫球蛋白E(IgE)抗体。这些是真正的食物过敏,可能会引raybet雷竞技下载起危险反应(例如过敏反应)( 1 ).

In contrast, food sensitivities and food intolerances generally are not life threatening but may make you feel ill.

以下是食物过敏,敏感性和不耐受性的快速比较(raybet雷竞技下载 2 ,3,4, 5 , 6 ,7,, 8 , 9 ):

食物过敏 食物敏感性 Food intolerance
免疫系统涉及? 是的(IgE抗体) yes (IgG and other antibodies, white blood cells and other immune system molecules) no (digestive enzyme deficiency, poor absorption of certain carbs)
Examples of foods involved top 9 most common: milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, crustacean shellfish, and sesame 人与人之间的不同,可能包括您经常吃的食物 fermentable carbs (FODMAPS): milk (lactose), legumes and certain vegetables, fruits, grains, and sweeteners
吃食物后的症状发作 rapid, often within minutes 几个小时内,但可能会延迟几天 within 30 minutes to 48 hours after eating
症状的例子 吞咽或呼吸困难,恶心,呕吐,蜂箱;可能导致过敏反应 头痛,关节疼痛,消化问题,皮肤问题,整体不适的感觉 最常见的是消化问题:腹胀,气体过多,肠疼痛,腹泻和便秘
引起症状所需的食物量 tiny 取决于您的敏感程度 generally worse with larger amounts of problem foods
How it’s tested skin-prick tests or blood tests of IgE levels to specific foods 有许多测试可用,但是它们的有效性尚不确定。 Breath tests may identify fermentable carb intolerances (lactose, fructose).
Age of diagnosis commonly in infants and young children, but adults can also develop them can appear at any age varies, but lactose intolerance is most likely in adults
Prevalence 1–2% of adults; less than 10% of children 不确定但怀疑是普遍的 多达20%的人口
你能摆脱它吗? 孩子们可能会超出牛奶,鸡蛋,大豆和小麦过敏。花生和树坚果过敏往往持续到成年。 You may be able to consume a food again without symptoms after avoiding it for several months and addressing any underlying issues. 从长远来看,您可以通过限制或避免食物触发因素来最大程度地减少症状。小肠细菌过度生长的抗生素治疗也可能有帮助。
概括

真正的食物过敏是一种潜在的威胁生命的反应,涉及免疫系统的IgE抗体。食物敏感性涉及免疫系统的其他抗体和细胞,而食物不耐受不涉及您的免疫系统。

如果症状不危及生命,也不是由真实食物过敏引起的,那么识别食物敏感性的黄金标准是一种排除饮食followed by an oral food challenge.

During a food challenge, you eat the eliminated foods one by one after a period of avoidance to determine your reaction — ideally without you knowing what’s being tested (10).

If you don’t follow an elimination diet before the oral challenge for food sensitivities, your symptoms in response to consuming a food antigen may be hard to detect.

当您停止食用会引起不良反应的食物时,您可能会出现暂时的戒断症状。在这些症状清除之前,您可能必须遵循消除饮食大约2周,并准备在口腔挑战中开始测试食物。

Following an elimination diet requires dedication and commitment, as well as careful record-keeping. You should know the ingredients of everything you eat, which makes eating out difficult. Keeping afood journal或使用食物日记应用程序可能会有所帮助。

消除饮食中避免的食物可能会有所不同。一些过敏者和免疫学家可能会指导您仅消除怀疑是一个问题的食物,例如那些含有乳制品,小麦和大豆的食物。

Warning

如果您有真正的过敏,您绝对不要尝试重新引入食物。如果您怀疑自己的食物过敏已经超出了过敏,请与过敏症患者谈论适当的测试。

Others may direct you to eliminate all but a few foods for a short period, such as 2 weeks, and then slowly reintroduce them.

为了减少有关哪些食物可能导致问题的猜测,一些从业者可能首先为您提供食物敏感性测试,以帮助您指导您的消除饮食。

概括

识别食物敏感性的黄金标准是消除饮食,然后是有条不紊的口服食物挑战,其中涉及尝试消除的食物。一些从业人员使用食物敏感性测试来回家问题。

Cell-based tests for food sensitivities began with the cytotoxic test popularized in the 1950s. This test was banned by several states in 1985 due to problems with its accuracy ( 11 ).

从那时起,免疫学家改善了测试技术并自动化。食物敏感性的两项基于细胞的血液测试是介体释放测试(MRT)和抗原白细胞细胞抗体测试(ALCAT)。

尽管一些从业人员报告说他们发现这些测试有用,但对测试的知名研究有限(7).

Mediator Release Test (MRT)

MRT需要一个血液样本,通常是从手臂中的静脉中抽取的,并使用该公司的套件收集,该公司在测试中具有专利。

如果您的白细胞在MRT测试中暴露于食物抗原时会“收缩”,则会导致血液样本的固体(白细胞)与液体(血浆)比率发生变化。测量这是为了确定您对食物的反应性(12).

当您的白细胞在暴露于食物抗原时收缩时,这表明他们已经释放了化学介质(例如组胺和白三烯),这些化学介质可能会引起您体内的症状。

基于您的MRT结果的饮食称为LEAP(生活方式饮食和表现),由卫生从业人员(例如营养师)指导,他们接受了测试及其解释的培训。

A small 2004 study in 10 people found that people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who followed an elimination diet based on MRT results for at least 1 month reported a marked improvement in gut issues, such as diarrhea, as well as overall well-being (13).

However, there was no control group in this study, nor has it been published in full.

New publications on MRT are in progress (14).

However, PubMed, a large database that indexes published medical studies, lists no studies on the MRT.

抗原白细胞细胞抗体试验(ALCAT)

The ALCAT is the predecessor of the MRT, but many healthcare practitioners and labs still offer it.

To assess which foods may provoke a reaction for you, it measures changes in the size of your white blood cells (rather than changes in the solid-to-liquid ratio) when exposed to individual food antigens, which may decrease accuracy.

当人们的时候IBS遵循饮食基于其ALCAT结果4周,他们报告了与安慰剂饮食相比,某些IBS症状的减少两倍(例如腹痛和腹胀)( 15 ).

但是,那些遵循基于ALCAT饮食的人并没有将其浮雕评价为足够或显着改善研究期间的生活质量( 15 ).

概括

基于细胞的血液检查, including the MRT and ALCAT, assess changes in your white blood cells after exposure to food antigens. Some practitioners report that the tests may be helpful in identifying food sensitivities, but both tests require further study.

Antibody-based food sensitivity tests measure your production of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to foods. They’re available under various brand names.

这种类型的测试比其他食物敏感性测试更具发表的研究,但研究仍然有限。这些研究表明,消除以IgG测试为指导的食物可能有助于改善IBS患者的症状和migraine( 16 , 17 ,18,19).

Still, many scientists advise people not to use IgG food sensitivity tests, saying that the presence of IgG antibodies against foods may simply show that you’ve been exposed to the foods or, in some cases, they may be protecting against food allergy reactions (7,20).

This means these tests may show false positives.

However, other scientists say it’s not normal for someone to have high levels of IgG antibodies against foods.

另一个问题是,进行IgG测试的个别实验室开发了自己的内部技术。许多具有不同的可重复性,这意味着,如果分析了两次相同的血液样本,则两次可能不会显示相同的结果(4).

It’s recommended that you use an IgG test only if it evaluates your blood sample twice with each antigen in side-by-side duplicate testing to minimize errors in your results.

概括

再次测试,评估水平的免疫球蛋白抗体st foods are available under various brand names. They may help identify foods involved in symptoms of conditions such as IBS and migraine. Accuracy is improved if a lab does side-by-side duplicate testing.

Some complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, such as chiropractors, naturopaths, and environmental medicine doctors, may use other tests to check for food sensitivities.

Some of the more common options are muscle response testing, provocation tests, and electrodermal screening.

肌肉反应测试

肌肉反应测试也称为应用运动机能学,涉及一只手握住一只食物抗原的小瓶,同时伸展另一只手臂,平行于地板。

The practitioner then pushes down on your extended arm. If it’s easily pushed down, indicating weakness, you are told that you’re sensitive to the food being tested.

The few published studies on this method have found that it’s no better at identifying food sensitivities than what would be expected by chance (20).

该方法的准确性随着从业者的个人技能水平而变化的程度尚不清楚。

Provocation and neutralization test

在此测试中,一名从业者注入了涉嫌在您的皮肤下(通常在您的上臂)引起反应的单个食物提取物。10分钟后,他们检查一下是否形成了一个盐分(肿胀的区域),这表明对经过测试的食物有反应。

If a wheal forms, they give you a second injection of the same food in a dilution five times weaker than the original dose. This is an attempt to neutralize the reaction.

他们在10分钟后再次检查您的皮肤。如果没有皮肤反应,则管理剂量被认为是您的中和剂量。

找到中和剂量可能需要逐渐弱的稀释液。您可以学会定期给自己注射以使自己对食物不敏感(20).

鉴于您必须作为该测试的一部分进行注射的数量,这可能是一个缓慢而可能痛苦的过程。

但是,2021年的叙事评论列出了这种方法不建议,因为它有更高的机会导致严重的过敏反应(4).

电筛选

该测试衡量在有各种食物抗原(21).

For this test, you hold a brass tube (an electrode) in one hand. The tube is connected to a computer that contains digitized frequencies of individual foods. A practitioner presses a computer-connected probe to a specific point in your other hand.

Based on your skin’s electrical resistance when challenged with each food digitally, a numerical reading is generated that corresponds to your degree of reaction to the food.

No published studies have evaluated this technique for testing food sensitivities (20).

概括

肌肉反应测试,挑衅测试和电皮筛选是食物敏感性测试的其他类型。

These generally require more time than tests relying on a single blood draw, and studies on their effectiveness are limited or lacking. Provocation tests may not be recommended due to safety concerns.

食物敏感性测试带有几个警告。最大的方法是,这些测试不是为诊断真正食物过敏的设计而设计的。raybet雷竞技下载

If you have a diagnosed allergy to a food, such as peanuts, you should continue to avoid that food, regardless of your results on a food sensitivity test. Even if you think you’ve outgrown a specific food allergy, doctors don’t recommend reintroducing that food on your own.

If you’re considering using these tests to identify food sensitivities, it’s important to understand that they aren’t considered proven, so insurance companies may provide little or no coverage for them. Food sensitivity tests can cost several hundred dollars (7,20).

Additionally, to verify the accuracy of the test, the results of any food sensitivity test should be cross-checked with what happens in your body when you eat the food.

One possible reason for discrepancies is that most labs doing food sensitivity tests primarily use food extracts from生食. However, when food is cooked or processed, new antigens may be created and existing antigens may be destroyed (4,22).

某些实验室使用的每种食物提取物(抗原)的纯度也可能会有所不同,这可能会使您的结果偏差。

Following outdated or inaccurate food sensitivity test results could lead to unnecessary dietary restrictions, potential nutrient deficiencies, and decreased quality of life (20).

Scientists and healthcare professionals are still learning more about food sensitivities. Testing and treatment will likely continue to improve.

概括

食物敏感性测试不能用于诊断真正的食物过敏。raybet雷竞技下载尽管有些人可能有助于确定食品敏感性,但保险公司通常不涵盖测试。几个因素可以影响测试结果的有效性。

The best way to identify food sensitivities is through an elimination diet, which involves avoiding suspected problem foods for a period of time and then reintroducing them one by one. It’s important to take detailed notes when using this method.

Lab tests, such as MRT, ALCAT, and IgG antibody tests, may not produce accurate results, though they may be helpful as a tool to help reduce the guesswork.

Still, these tests haven’t been compared to each other in controlled, published studies, so it’s uncertain whether one test is better than another.

不应使用在家测试来识别食物过敏或重新引入您怀疑您可能已经长大的食物过敏原,因为这可能很危险。

就一件事

如果您怀疑自己对食物有不良反应,请先咨询普通医生。他们可能会将您转介给胃肠病学家,过敏症患者或其他从业者,以排除IBS,腹腔疾病和乳糖不耐症等疾病。