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   Table of Contents
  • Food Allergy and Intolerances
  • Symptoms of a Food Allergy
  • Common Food Allergies
  • Cross Reactivity
  • Differential Diagnoses
  • Diagnosis
  • Exercise-Induced Food Allergy
  • Food Allergy Treatment
  • Infants and Children
  • Controversial Issues
  • Controversial Diagnostic Techniques
  • Controversial Treatments
  • Summary
  • Keeping On Top of Your Condition
  • Resources
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    Controversial Diagnostic Techniques



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    One controversial diagnostic technique is cytotoxicity testing, in which a food allergen is added to a patient's blood sample. A technician then examines the sample under the microscope to see if white cells in the blood "die." Scientists have evaluated this technique in several studies and have not been found it to effectively diagnose food allergy.

    Another controversial approach is called sublingual or, if it is injected under the skin, subcutaneous provocative challenge. In this procedure, dilute food allergen is administered under the tongue of the person who may feel that his or her arthritis, for instance, is due to foods. The technician then asks the patient if the food allergen has aggravated the arthritis symptoms. In clinical studies, researchers have not shown that this procedure can effectively diagnose food allergies.

    An immune complex assay is sometimes done on patients suspected of having food allergies to see if there are complexes of certain antibodies bound to the food allergen in the bloodstream. It is said that these immune complexes correlate with food allergies. But the formation of such immune complexes is a normal offshoot of food digestion, and everyone, if tested with a sensitive enough measurement, has them. To date, no one has conclusively shown that this test correlates with allergies to foods.

    Another test is the IgG subclass assay, which looks specifically for certain kinds of IgG antibody. Again, there is no evidence that this diagnoses food allergy.



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