Tolerability analysis. Personal diet. How to identify food intolerance? Features of food allergies

It would seem that there are a huge number of tasty and healthy products on earth, but, unfortunately, for some people they can be potentially dangerous. Food intolerance is a very common condition that is often confused with allergies. Unlike allergies, food intolerance has different development mechanisms, so it causes a lot of discomfort to its carrier.

Food intolerance is a negative reaction of the body to certain foods that are rejected and not absorbed. Every year the number of people with PN is growing. Unfortunately, not everyone can easily distinguish intolerance to certain foods from an allergic reaction. The cause of PN can be almost any product that is not absorbed by the body.

Traditional food intolerance, which is expressed by a person’s sharp reaction to a product; in the first 5-15 minutes after consuming the product, a person begins to suffer from attacks of suffocation, redness appears on the skin, anaphylactic shock is possible, and cases of death are also possible. Research data show that traditional intolerance occurs in 10% of children and 2% of adults.

There is also food intolerance, which can be difficult to diagnose because a reaction to a food can take several days to occur. This type of PN occurs in more than 20% of people. This PN is more difficult to treat, since the symptoms are not immediately detected, are often not tied to the use of a specific product and are similar to the symptoms of other diseases.

Symptoms of food intolerance

The symptoms of PN are very complex and nonspecific. But in addition to this, doctors identify the main symptoms characteristic of PN, which are determined in the first few hours after consuming the product. Doctors distinguish between systemic and skin allergic reactions.

Systemic reactions include:

Itchy skin;

Numbness of the tongue;

Swelling of the oral mucosa;

A sharp drop in blood pressure;

constipation or diarrhea;

Cramps and colic in the abdomen;

Irritable bowel symptoms;

The appearance of unpleasant sensations in the mouth;

Nausea and vomiting;

Anaphylactic shock.

Skin reactions are similar in children and adults. Thus, in infants, the primary reaction to an allergen product is skin rashes, itching, and diaper rash. In adults with PN, urticaria or atopic dermatitis appears.

Allergies or food intolerances. What is the difference?

The specialist needs to clearly determine whether the patient’s disease is food intolerance. Treatment guidelines for food allergies and intolerances vary, so accurate diagnosis is important to help guide appropriate treatment.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that intolerance does not manifest itself immediately, a person can suffer from the disease for many years and not even know it. Often the disease becomes chronic and cannot be treated. People with PN often suffer from excess weight, are susceptible to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and have dermatitis.

In a healthy body, incoming products are easily broken down and then sent into the blood. With PN, the breakdown of products does not occur completely; as a result, large macromolecules enter the blood. As a result, a person develops gastrointestinal diseases and allergic reactions.

The reasons for food intolerance lie in existing problems with the gastrointestinal tract, frequent stress, as well as the characteristics of the products themselves, which contain artificial colors and additives that cause allergies.

Foods that most often cause food intolerance:

Animal proteins: eggs, dairy products, cheese, seafood, etc.
Cereals: wheat, barley, rye, rice, oats, etc.
Legumes: beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, etc.
Cruciferous vegetables: cabbage, radish, horseradish, etc.

Among other things, PN can be caused not by the products themselves, but by the toxic substances contained in them. Toxins present in products:

Natural toxins containing cyanide substances are mushrooms, seeds of some fruits, berries;

Toxins produced by cooking. Some foods that are not prepared correctly may contain cyanides, hemagglutinins;

Food contaminants, which are often found in mold;

Food additives contain nitrates, sulfates, which have a negative effect on the entire body.

The dangers of food intolerance

Undegraded products - macromolecules - are defined by the body as foreign. The human body triggers antibodies that are aimed at immediately eliminating these antibodies. The fight against macromolecules unfolds throughout the body; inflammatory processes occur in the organs, which significantly disrupt the functioning of all internal systems of the body.

A product that causes PN becomes useless, because by consuming it, a person does not receive any useful substances and microelements. Moreover, this product poses a danger to human health, which is why it is so important to diagnose the cause of PN in time and remove the allergen from the diet.

Diagnosis of food intolerance

In modern laboratories, the patient will be offered a procedure that includes drawing blood to study its composition after taking certain foods. The FED test is a modern analysis that allows you to most accurately determine the allergen product and determine how strong the effect it has on the human body.

As a treatment, careful attention to your diet and exclusion from the diet of an allergen product that causes a negative effect on the body is suitable. Some patients with severe symptoms are prescribed medication to relieve symptoms.

When should you contact a specialist?

Excess weight with a normal, rational diet, without taking into account diseases of the endocrine system and hormonal changes.
Inability to gain weight without eating enough.
Constant feeling of fatigue, apathy, reluctance to engage in any activity. Food does not charge the body with energy, but on the contrary, it seems to consume it.
After taking certain foods, weakness in the body, dizziness, and stomach problems occur.
The occurrence of skin reactions.
Swelling, pain in muscles and joints.

If the doctor cannot give a definite answer about your condition, you need to do a FED test and seek help from a more qualified specialist. Often, the danger of PN lies in the fact that the doctor begins to treat symptoms without taking into account the cause of their occurrence. Naturally, with this treatment, the symptoms return over time, and the disease itself becomes chronic and lasts for a long time. Proper diagnosis and timely treatment will help cope with food intolerance. After identifying the allergen product, you will need to exclude it from your diet. It happens that there is not one allergen, but several at once, for example, legumes, then it is necessary to remove products from this group from the diet.

The article was prepared by doctor Morozova Valeria

Traditionally, the fight against extra pounds begins with increasing physical activity and optimizing the nutritional system. For many, these measures are enough to get tangible results after three months, but there are situations when generally accepted ideas of a healthy lifestyle do not help, or even cause harm. The person becomes lethargic, sleeps poorly and feels general malaise, although he follows all the recommendations. In this case, it makes sense to get tested for food intolerance. Perhaps kefir or whole grain porridge recommended in all diets in a particular case are unhealthy foods, and consuming them causes significant harm instead of stabilizing the condition.

Food intolerance - what is it?

Food intolerance is often confused with food allergy, but these are different types of body reactions. Allergy is a reaction of the immune system, and intolerance is hypersensitivity, difficulty digesting any product or group of products.

If after eating you feel discomfort, your health worsens, and you feel sleepy, then you need to monitor for some time which product provokes the condition. If the option of overeating is rejected, then you need to understand what food the body reacts negatively to and take appropriate measures. Excluding a food product is not always a solution to the problem, because each of them has nutritional value, and simply by removing it from your menu, a person loses some of the vitamins and microelements. It is necessary to find a complete replacement that does not cause rejection.

Allergy or intolerance?

Most often, the list of foods poorly accepted by the body includes citrus fruits, milk, and cereals. All types of cabbage and legumes cause the accumulation of gases in the intestines, and many often classify them as poorly tolerated foods. The use of spices in the food system not only enriches the taste, but also improves the quality of food, for example, asafoetida, added during the preparation of cabbage (legumes), neutralizes the effect of gas formation.

How to distinguish allergies from intolerances? In case of an allergic reaction, even a small amount of a product eaten almost instantly leads to a violent reaction (skin rashes, difficulty breathing, spasms, etc.). Intolerance does not cause strong sensations; discomfort is a cumulative reaction.

Signs

Symptoms of food intolerance appear several hours after eating and can last up to two days. Main manifestations:

Cramps in the intestines.
Bloating, intestinal gas formation.
There are dark circles under the eyes, slight swelling of the face and rashes on the skin.
Diarrhea, constipation, flatulence.
Unpleasant uncharacteristic sensations in the mouth, belching.
Headache that began 40-60 minutes after eating.
Fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome.

Main types of intolerance

If people received natural, organic food, no one would know about allergies and food intolerances. The desire to grow a large harvest in the shortest possible time, the use of preservatives, flavor enhancers, substitutes, the intensive development of industry that polluted the environment, led to negative consequences, part of which was health. “We are what we eat,” doctors say, and this is the absolute truth. The accumulation of unnatural elements in the body that the internal regulatory system cannot cope with gives rise to a range of diseases. Knowing the reasons in each specific case helps to alleviate the condition:

Lack of any enzyme. These substances are secreted by the pancreas and are designed to help break down food for further digestion in the intestines. The absence or insufficient release of a group of enzymes causes discomfort and poor absorption of food. For example, the absence of an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar causes milk intolerance. The consequences are the accumulation of mucus in the body, bloating, poor health, cramps and colic in the abdomen.
Chemical elements of food. Rennet for the production of hard cheeses is a natural remedy, but may cause intolerance in many consumers. Chocolate with additives that enhance the taste or provide additional taste (strawberry, banana, coconut, etc.). is also an irritant. For many people, caffeine contained in tea and coffee is unacceptable. Dyes used to give products an aesthetic appearance are of chemical origin and often cause allergies and are poorly accepted by the body.
Toxins. When eating expired foods or dishes, poisoning occurs, the degree of which varies, but in any case, the consequences follow a person for quite a long time, and sometimes completely change the way of life and even lead to the fact that he needs to go on a diet. Toxins suppress many bowel functions, sometimes beyond repair. When purchasing baked goods, ready-made meals, or canned food in a store, you need to pay attention to the expiration date.
Nutritional supplements. Over the past thirty years, the food industry has been increasingly using chemical additives, and their number is constantly increasing. Most of them serve to extend shelf life, improve appearance, and enhance taste. Eating such products has negative consequences: most often they contain preservatives, stabilizers, etc. accumulate in the body, and the consequences observed after several years are rarely associated with the food consumed.

In each specific case, a food intolerance analysis helps to find out which foods cause discomfort.

Dangers

The body always reacts to foreign elements, including One of them is the production of antibodies that bind foreign molecules and remove them through functional systems. With the constant consumption of irritating and indigestible food, the load on the entire body increases - from the intestinal walls to the liver and kidneys, since harmful substances disperse through the bloodstream throughout all cells of the body.

Over time, organs are affected by chronic diseases. The immune system is omnipresent, but gaps form in it too. A chronic disease of any organ always leads to malfunctions, and if the cause is not removed, there will be no improvement, problems will increase, because the body is a single system. A malfunction of the liver leads to gradual poisoning, the accumulation of toxins, which, in turn, enter the bloodstream and enter the brain, heart, etc.

The consequence of neglecting one's health is, among other things, obesity, which in the modern world is becoming an epidemic affecting all segments of the population. A blood test for food intolerance helps to identify the causes of the pathology and find out why the endocrine disruption occurred.

Diagnostics

Now you probably know why people suffering from excess weight want to take a blood test for food intolerance: to lose weight, it is not enough to blindly give up a certain food group or exhaust yourself in the gym. It is necessary to approach the solution of the problem comprehensively, and it is recommended to start by visiting specialists.

After an initial examination and history taking, the doctor will usually refer the patient for research. Diagnostics includes several laboratory tests:

FED test. For the analysis, 4.5 milliliters of venous blood is taken and sensitivity to one hundred of the most common foods and thirty types of additives (chemicals) is tested. FED test - developed by American specialists. After testing, test results, nutritional recommendations, and a list of healthy and neutral foods are provided.
Another popular test for food intolerance is the hemotest, or hemocode. The test program, in which the patient’s blood is tested for reactions to common food products, is a scientific development of Russian scientists and is fully adapted to domestic realities. Based on the test results, a specialist is consulted, a complete picture of the analysis performed and recommendations for further actions are provided.
After you have taken a blood test for food intolerance for weight loss, it is recommended to additionally determine your hormone levels. Disruption of the thyroid gland and adrenal glands causes hormonal imbalance and, as a result, obesity or weight loss.
York test. This analysis for food intolerance was one of the first in world practice. The basis was a study of allergic reactions in children conducted by American scientists. An analysis of the patient's blood and plasma allows one to identify allergens and poorly tolerated foods. Having found out the state of affairs, the patient, guided by the advice of specialists, draws up a menu, excluding inappropriate products.
In vitro analysis for food intolerance. Detects the presence of immunoglobulins (IgG class), the presence of which indicates allergies; in addition, it allows the diagnosis of non-IgE-mediated reactions to food that occur during prolonged consumption of inappropriate food. To clarify the results, laboratory specialists recommend a series of tests that can confirm or refute intolerance to any product.

How and where the analysis is carried out

Testing for food intolerance for weight loss requires some preparation:

Blood is donated in the morning on an empty stomach. After the last meal, 8 to 10 hours should pass. You are allowed to drink clean water.
Morning hygiene procedures are carried out without the use of toothpaste (powder, etc.).
If medications are prescribed, you should consult your doctor to see if they can be discontinued within 24 hours. Medicines can change the actual picture of the analysis.
You should stop smoking, including passive smoking.
If there is an acute infectious or inflammatory disease, it is better to postpone the test until complete recovery.

Where can I get tested for food intolerance? You can contact clinics specializing in healthy lifestyle issues, laboratories and centers that offer examinations under the hemocode program, FED diagnostics, or those that deal with allergy issues.

Analysis results are provided immediately or - in certain cases - after seven days. With the results, you should contact the specialist who referred you for testing in order to receive a full transcript of the data obtained and advice on further eating behavior.

It comes as a surprise to many that favorite and frequently consumed foods are on the list of not recommended or prohibited. The list may also include products that have never been in the diet, but if you carefully read food packaging, you can find them. For example, the patient never included soy, indicated as an allergen or intolerant product, in his menu, but today this ingredient is included in most sausages, pates, etc.

An in vitro blood test for food intolerance will illustrate not only foods that are poorly absorbed by the body, but also a list of allergens that cause a reaction. This will help change eating habits, lose excess weight and get rid of a number of diseases.

Where is the catch?

Having passed an individual test for food intolerance (for weight loss, for example) and received a transcript, the majority immediately begins to radically solve the problem. If milk is designated as a prohibited product on the list, then all dairy products immediately disappear from the diet, which is not always true. Most often, fermented milk products have a beneficial effect on the body, and they are rarely included in the signal list. But milk can “cunningly” hide. The intolerant substance in it is lactose (casein), and it is present in many products: baked pancakes, hard cheese, which is pleasant to sprinkle on pasta, ice cream and many other dishes contain milk, and it is implicitly consumed.

By reading the ingredients label of a product, you can tell with confidence what it contains. For example, if eggs are prohibited, then it is necessary to abandon traditional baked goods in favor of dietary products. A person who is determined to get rid of extra pounds and ailments that interfere with life will have to be very careful for some time when choosing food.

How long to stick to the rules

Giving up intolerant foods at the beginning of the diet is difficult, but after two to three weeks the first noticeable changes will follow. During this period, toxins will be partially removed from the body, and the process of restoration of tissues and functions will begin. The immune system, which has received a break, is harmonized and adjusted to productive activity, without the emergency mode in which it functioned for a long time.

After a few more weeks, you will get used to the new food system, and you may no longer want to return to bad habits. Worth a try. No diet lasts forever unless it is a means of survival. Refusal of foods can be gradually eliminated by introducing into the diet one item at a time from the prohibited list. At the same time, you should monitor the reactions: if they are negative, then you need to find a replacement of equivalent nutritional value and not experiment anymore.

General rules of conduct

Having analyzed for food intolerance and set a course for losing weight, improving the quality of life and well-being, you must adhere to general recommendations that help achieve results:

The food intolerance test should be repeated after 6 months to check the results and monitor changes in the condition.
Follow a rotation diet. Its essence is that for four days no food is consumed (for example, meat or butter is excluded for 4 days). That is, if you ate chicken on Monday, then next time it should appear on the table only on Friday. Firstly, it will become clear how useful or harmful the product was, its remnants will be completely removed from the body. Secondly, if the product is an allergen or is poorly tolerated by the body, then toxins will not accumulate and cause rejection and increased work of all organs.
Eat fruit as a separate meal, but not earlier than two hours after lunch. It is recommended to periodically unload the body and eat food only twice a day, moving the lunch meal to dinner.
A useful rule is to eat simple baked or boiled dishes. The less culinary manipulation products undergo, the healthier they are for the body.
Coffee and tea are replaced with herbal infusions and plain water. It makes sense to replace sugar with honey (if there is no allergy) or completely abandon it, and use stevia or licorice root as a sweetener. Drink more fruit juices and purees.
In any condition, it is useful to avoid fried and fatty foods. It will be beneficial to exclude from the diet confectionery, flour products using yeast, products containing artificial colors, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc.

I am allergic to milk (shrimp, eggs, chocolate) - we hear from people quite often. Currently, up to 30% of the world's population suffers from allergic diseases, of which food allergies account for a significant part. But few people know that there is such a term as “food intolerance.” Their symptoms are similar, but the mechanisms of development are different. A reflexologist, Ph.D., will help us figure out how food allergies differ from food intolerances. Mariat Mukhina.

- Why is it necessary to distinguish these two diseases if they are so similar?

It is very important to establish an accurate diagnosis and distinguish food allergies from food intolerances, since their treatment and prevention methods vary greatly. Despite its apparent simplicity, this is very difficult to do, since in both cases there is a connection with food intake. In this case, the cause of the reaction can be any food product, and its manifestations are often the same.

Food intolerance is a sluggish reaction to certain “ingredients” in our daily diet. You will be surprised, but about 90 percent of the population suffers from this scourge to one degree or another, but only a few know about their illness. The consequences of intolerance are chronic diseases that are difficult to treat, including diseases of the skin and digestive tract, nervous disorders and excess weight... People have been treated for years, not suspecting that the root of all problems lies in food.

- Please tell us more about the symptoms.

The symptoms of food intolerance are extremely varied, but none of them are specific, for example, to food allergies.

Doctors distinguish systemic allergic reactions after exposure to a food allergen and skin reactions. Systemic manifestations include dermatitis, itching, numbness and/or a feeling of “bloating” of the tongue, swelling of the oral mucosa. The most severe manifestation of food allergies is anaphylactic shock. This is the most serious symptom, as it can occur a few seconds after eating and is characterized by a very severe course, even death.

Systemic manifestations also include a drop in blood pressure, urticaria, angioedema, vomiting, colic, constipation, diarrhea, allergic enterocolitis, allergic rhinitis.

Skin manifestations of food allergies are the most common in both adults and children. In infants under one year of age, the first signs of food allergies may be diaper rash, despite careful skin care, dermatitis and itching. For true food allergies, the most characteristic skin manifestations are urticaria and atopic dermatitis.

- Why is food intolerance so dangerous if it does not cause angioedema or asthma?

You see, if you continue to regularly eat foods that the body is not able to digest, then inflammatory processes occur. Gradually they become chronic, a person begins to suffer from arthritis, migraines, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue, depression and acne, constipation and hyperactivity and other ailments. The growing load on the kidneys leads to disruption of the removal of excess fluid from the body. Hence the excess weight and obesity. Next, the body begins to digest more and more new foods worse, including those to which it previously reacted normally. As a result, no matter what a person eats, he doesn’t feel good. That is why, by eliminating “intolerant” foods from your diet, you can gradually lose weight without any harm to your health.

- Why are the symptoms the same, but the mechanisms are different?

When we hear the word “allergy”, it means that the immune system is involved in the process. Food allergies develop when the immune system mistakenly begins to block proteins found in food. For example, cells of the immune system mistook an orange for an infection and began to produce antibodies to fight it. The next time an orange enters this body, the antibodies instantly recognize it and mobilize the immune system to respond. The difference with food intolerance is that food allergies appear instantly and even to a tiny amount of allergen in food.

The situation with food intolerance is much more complicated. With food intolerance, the immune system works normally, and food digestion processes are disrupted. As a rule, this occurs due to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, neuroendocrine and other systems. Sometimes consuming a food product causes an exacerbation of a person’s existing disease.

For example, milk intolerance is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme lactase, which is necessary to break down milk sugar. Abdominal pain and indigestion occur.

- Which foods cause allergies and which intolerances? Is there any difference between them?

Almost any product can become an allergen or cause food intolerance. However, some food products have pronounced allergenic properties, while others, if they cause allergies, do so rarely. Pronounced allergens are products containing animal and plant proteins. The most common food allergens include wheat, rye, oats, corn, milk, fish and fish products, eggs, meat of various animals and birds, legumes, nuts, vegetables, tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, food coloring and preservatives, yeast, citrus fruits, alcohol.

- How then do you understand what you can eat and what you can’t?

To identify allergic reactions, there are a lot of tests, from a simple skin test to a detailed blood test, which determines the level of antibodies to a wide variety of foods. True, the results of these analyzes do not always allow a final conclusion to be made, since both false-positive and false-negative results occur. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the power system individually, unfortunately, by trial and error. From childhood, it is necessary to monitor the child, identify and eliminate unwanted allergens. By the way, if there are symptoms of increased activity or hyperactivity, sometimes it is enough to exclude foods containing artificial colors or food additives from the child’s diet.

But it is better to consult a professional nutritionist. This helps solve many long-standing health problems in adults as well. Eat homemade, seasonal foods more often, add variety to your diet every day, and you will be surprised how quickly you will get rid of many of the problems caused by food intolerances. With normal digestion and a healthy immune system, problems with allergies and food intolerances do not arise.

The health and well-being of a person largely depends on his lifestyle and is directly related to the quality of nutrition in general and the foods consumed in particular. 80% of various diseases and pathological conditions are based on unhealthy or incomplete food. Thus, diseases in the etiology or pathogenesis of which nutrition plays a major role are usually called nutritionally dependent. This group of pathological conditions includes food intolerance.

What is food intolerance?

(food intolerance, pseudoallergy) is a condition of the body in which, in response to the consumption of food, a complex of pathological reactions occurs, accompanied by various clinical symptoms. It is important to note that food intolerance is not related to allergic reactions and is a negative response of the body as a result of its inability to absorb one or more food components.

Causes of food intolerance

Food intolerance is not an independent disease. This condition is considered a manifestation of various diseases that interfere with the breakdown of ingested food into simple compounds and their absorption. These conditions include:

enzymopathies;
diseases of the digestive tract;
features of food composition;
psychogenic causes;
irritable bowel syndrome.

Symptoms

Food intolerance can have many symptoms, but none of them can be considered specific, since each person develops his own individual set of reactions to the intolerant product. Signs of food intolerance include:

fatigue, drowsiness, weakness, irritability after eating any food;
emotional lability;
tachycardia after eating;
frequent diarrhea or loose stools;
constipation;
flatulence;
discomfort or pain in the abdomen;
heartburn;
belching;
sweating;
problematic skin (acne, increased oiliness);
flu-like conditions;
nasal congestion and rhinorrhea in the absence of an obvious cold;
rash;
skin itching;
swelling;
unreasonable pain in joints and muscles;
weight gain or loss in the absence of endocrinological spectrum diseases;
headache.

Who should get tested?

May have a negative impact on the course of diseases not involved in its pathogenetic mechanism. An IgG4 test is recommended for patients with a history of the following diseases:

Diseases of the endocrine system: thyroid diseases and diabetes.
Diseases of the digestive tract: esophagitis, gastritis, duodenitis, stomach/duodenal ulcers, colitis, enteritis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, etc.
Diseases of the respiratory system.
Excess body weight.
Skin problems.
Otolaryngeal diseases: rhinitis, sinusitis, otitis media.
Skin ailments: eczema, dermatitis, urticaria, etc.
Diseases of the urinary system: glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, etc.

Cost of analysis

In Moscow, such an analysis costs from 11,000 rubles to 26,000 rubles. In the MobilMed network of medical centers, it costs 10,920 rubles, and it is worth noting that the method of conducting this test is absolutely identical, the only question is who wants to earn how much from it.

A reliable method for identifying food intolerance is the detection of specific IgG4 antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This study allows us to identify sensitivity to foods included in the patient’s regular diet. The Mobile Medical Lab laboratory performs analysis to determine specific IgG4 to 88 food allergens and their mixtures.

Interpretation of analyzes

Analysis results, as a rule, can be obtained within 4 working days (this can be 6 calendar days) after submitting the material for research. Based on them, an elimination diet is prepared individually for each patient. Depending on the amount of IgG4 detected in the blood, all analyzed products are divided into 3 groups:

green list - permitted products that can be consumed without restrictions;
yellow list - products that are allowed to be consumed no more than 1-2 times a week;
red list - prohibited foods that should be excluded from the patient’s diet for at least 3 months.

Treatment

Therapeutic measures used in the treatment of food intolerance have two directions - correction of diseases that caused pseudo-allergy, and elimination diet therapy. In cases where the cause of food intolerance is a somatic disease, each patient is prescribed an individual treatment regimen to eliminate this problem. In addition, in accordance with the test results, a diet is prescribed, which the patient should adhere to from 3 weeks to six months, depending on the severity of the condition.

Diet therapy for food intolerance can also be prescribed as monotherapy, since eliminating unwanted and contraindicated foods can improve the patient’s well-being, solve problems with excess or underweight, and alleviate the symptoms of concomitant diseases.

In conclusion, I would like to say, listen to your body, because after taking the test you will find that a number of foods that will be in the red zone, that is, prohibited, you yourself have somehow stopped eating recently, or you don’t like, and will It will be a big discovery if you ate some of them constantly and suddenly, having given them up, you began to feel much better.

Man has always had the desire to simplify his work process as much as possible, and all scientific and technological progress is built on this. Someone aptly noted that humanity owes its progress to laziness. It would seem, what does a blood test for food intolerance have to do with it? There is a connection, and a very direct one. But first, it is necessary to say a few words about the Gemocode program.

About "Gemocode"

There are many different methods and approaches for losing weight in the world. These are sports activities, cardio training, aerobics. These are weight loss methods that are based on various diets. But in order to lose weight using diets, especially energy-poor ones, a fair amount of endurance and willpower are required. Is it possible to lose weight without significantly limiting your diet using “lazy ways”?

There is a special program called “Gemocode”. The name itself makes it clear that in the composition of our blood it is possible to determine various substances that encode the level of our metabolism. The basis of this program, the incentive to action, or rather to a certain inaction, is a specific analysis, which determines the so-called intolerance to various types of products. Typically, the panel of substances with which immune reactions occur includes more than a hundred different types of food and chemical additives - preservatives, thickeners, sweeteners, anti-caking agents, dyes.

According to the developers of “Gemocode”, there are foods to which the body reacts “badly”, they slow down metabolism and contribute to the accumulation of excess body weight. After a comprehensive analysis is carried out, unwanted foods will be removed from the diet, and after a few weeks, without any exhausting loads or training, a person will discover that he has begun the long-awaited process of disappearing extra pounds and reducing in volume, which occurs “by itself” .

The “Gemocode” program is psychologically argued very competently. According to its authors, it can also be indicated for those people who are not overweight, but who have such well-known symptoms as chronic fatigue, loss of interest in life, chronic digestive disorders, flatulence, bloating, and unstable stools. The authors conclude from this that such symptoms may be a consequence of food intolerance. As a result, it leads to a decrease in quality of life, early aging, and other unpleasant results. In order to avoid all this, according to supporters of “Gemocode”, each of us needs to determine the sensitivity of the blood to food intolerance.

What is the test for food intolerance?

This study looks for evidence of a “negative reaction” in the human body to foods that are manifested by certain immune disorders. A small amount of blood is drawn from a peripheral vein from the patient, and then the blood serum is tested sequentially with the products on the panel - an analysis to determine the class of antibodies to specific food allergens.

As is known, these antibodies are also a certain factor through which sensitivity reactions to food components are carried out, and they are called non-immunoglobulin E-mediated allergy factors.

The list of food products is quite large. It includes exotic and conventional fruits and vegetables, such as avocado and pineapple, carrots and banana, eggplant and pepper, beets and potatoes, and other vegetable and fruit crops. These are various varieties of fish and meat, nuts, spices, wild berries, essential oil plants (parsley, basil). The panel may include various cereals and millet, mushrooms and yeast, poultry and lactic acid products, squid and shrimp, tomatoes and cane sugar, oysters and tobacco, chocolate and honey, and many other products. As a rule, a set contains from 10 to 130 different items.

Indications and preparation for taking a blood test for food intolerance

According to naturopathic doctors and nutritionists who profess the Hemocode philosophy, this study is indicated if the patient wants to lose weight and become healthier, improve the trophism of the skin and nails. Analysis is recommended in cases of increased mental and physical stress, as well as for women who are preparing to become pregnant. In other words, a blood test for food intolerance can be indicated for almost all people, with any problems, and even without them.

There are no contraindications to the procedure, other than personal reluctance. Preparing for the analysis is not difficult. It is imperative that you do not eat food less than 4 hours before donating blood, and this test is not recommended for people who are taking drugs that seriously suppress the immune system, such as glucocorticosteroid hormones. A blood test for food intolerance takes several days to prepare. What conclusions can be drawn from the results of the study?

Interpretation and conclusions

The results of determining the concentration of immunoglobulins are expressed in units per milliliter (U/ml). The range of reference values is from 50 to 200 units and above:

if the value for each product exceeds 50 units/ml, this indicates a slight violation of tolerance, or tolerability of the product;
if the range of values ranges from 100 to 200 units / ml, then the human body may react with a moderate violation of tolerance;
if the value exceeds more than 200 U/ml, this indicates a significant participation of this product in the formation of a certain type of food allergy, leading to a pronounced violation of tolerance.

The result of this survey is issued in the form of two lists. One, “red” list is formed by prohibited products. According to supporters of “Gemocode”, they must be stopped for at least 6 weeks. Products from the green list can be used without any restrictions, and they can become the basis of the diet.

These results are said to have diagnostic value for 1 year, after which some adjustment of individual items is possible. Of course, this is a very favorable statement. Indeed, in this case, unlike genetic tests, such a study can be taken several times throughout your life. And if you consider that the cost of this analysis, on average, is 11,000 rubles, and at the same time it can be prescribed to any person, and there is no responsibility of the appointing specialist for the result. The benefits really become very tangible. What can we say about the reliability of this method of “losing weight”?

Criticisms

Many specialists - nutritionists, immunologists and allergists note the low reliability of the results of such a test and the insufficiently developed scientific basis. For example, there are different types of food intolerance. There may be a congenital allergy, or there may be an intolerance associated with a deficiency of enzymes produced by the pancreas. In this case, it is enough to start using enzyme preparations, or eat easily digestible foods in small portions, several times a day. The analysis does not take this fact into account.

In addition, the approach to laboratory technology itself is questionable. Such a variety of products, located in the liquid and solid phases, do not have a single reference dissolution system, and are transferred into the liquid phase for study by ELISA using a variety of solvents, both aqueous and fatty and even organic. It is unknown how a single conclusion regarding product intolerance can be made based on different solvents.

The research methodology does not imply a correlation between the level of immunoglobulins and any proven pathological processes at the level of cells and tissues. Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether a cell will be harmed by any food product based solely on the level of immunoglobulin, and whether this will lead to disease.

Finally, it is completely unclear why foods that produce more immunoglobulins will inhibit metabolism and cause obesity, and not, on the contrary, cause stress and lead to exhaustion, as in thyrotoxicosis?

In conclusion, we can say with confidence that not a single authoritative international conference on dietetics or nutrition issues ever talks about such a technique. No randomized, placebo-controlled studies on a large number of volunteers have been conducted in reputable scientific journals, and therefore there is no need to talk about any scientific accuracy here.

Since patients spend quite significant amounts of money, they still need to feel the desired result, and those who are persuaded to do the test need to avoid scandals and lawsuits. Therefore, in most of the recommendations that are handed out after receiving a blood test for food intolerance, there is really competent and correct advice. Thus, it is recommended to limit the total caloric content of your daily diet, taking into account physical activity; in any case, regardless of the results of a blood test for food intolerance, you need to give up easily digestible carbohydrates: sugar, baked goods and potatoes, and also lead an active lifestyle. There is no doubt that these recommendations alone, without spending 11 thousand rubles (and sometimes more), will help reduce volume by several centimeters and weight by several kilograms within a month.