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Food Allergy Testing: Questions and Answers

Source: www.foodallergy.org
Topic: Foods
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Sort Desciption: Who should be tested for food allergy? Testing should be considered when symptoms such as ...

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Who should be tested for food allergy? Testing should be considered when symptoms such as hives, redness of the skin, itchiness, swelling of the lips or eyelids, throat tightness, wheezing, breathing trouble, coughing, vomiting, or diarrhea occur shortly after eating. Some chronic illnesses are sometimes associated with food allergy, including eczema (atopic dermatitis) and infantile digestive problems (significant vomiting, diarrhea). Asthma and hay fever are not commonly associated with food allergy. What do the tests measure? The tests determine the presence of IgE antibody directed to particular foods. (IgE is the allergic antibody which mediates most food allergy reactions.) Some laboratories offer other types of testing (cytotoxic testing, IgG antibody testing, provocation/neutralization, and others), but these should be considered unproven and experimental. What types of tests are available? Two commonly used tests are blood (IgE RAST) and skin prick tests. The blood tests require a small sample of blood to be sent to a laboratory, where the amount of IgE antibody to the specific food is measured. The result is reported as a numerical value, or class. Skin tests are performed by exposing a tiny area of scratched skin to the food being evaluated. This is accomplished either by pricking the skin with a small needle or probe through a drop of the food extract, or by using a pricking device that has been pre-soaked in the extract. A positive skin test results in a mosquito-bite-looking reaction at the site of the test within minutes. How are the tests interpreted? The easiest test result to interpret is one which is negative; it is very unusual to have IgEmediated reactions to a particular food when the skin or RAST test to that food is negative. Unfortunately, the interpretation of positive tests is not so straightforward. Positive tests indicate ...

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