Can you test for a food INTOLERANCE (not allergy)?
Posted by: admin / Category: food intolerance testI think I have a intolerance to gluten and/or milk…I don’t think they’re allergies because they don’t seem that severe, but I was wondering can you test for gluten and/or lactose intolerances? Or can you only test for food allergies? And if you can test for a food intolerance, what kind of test is it? Thank you.
Thank you! Finally someone who knows the difference between an allergy and an intolerance!
The first step is to continue your normal diet and to see your doctor. Ask to be tested for Celiac Disease. This is firstly done by a blood test and if positive, followed by a biopsy. Some people don’t have Celiac Disease are still intolerant to gluten. After you’ve had the Celiac Disease blood test and biopsy, you could trial a gluten free diet. You must wait until after your tests otherwise they will be skewed. The trial is often called a Gluten Challenge. I would recommend doing it under the guidance of a doctor and recording all your symptoms. It involves avoiding gluten for a set period of time and monitoring your symptoms, then reintroducing it and monitoring your symptoms again. If you feel better on a GF diet, many doctors would say ‘there’s your answer’.
I believe the same can be done with lactose/dairy. There are no special blood tests for that. So you could try removing lactose from your diet tomorrow. Keep a record of your symptoms. Don’t remove gluten and lactose at the same time because then you may not know which is the culprit.
Allergies are different from intolerances and they usually cause a life threatening response like trouble breathing.
Good luck.
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