Have you been experiencing consistent bloating, abdominal pain, and general problems with your digestive system? The problem may be sensitivity to certain foods that your body reacts to.
In fact, food sensitivities, intolerances, and allergies are so widespread, they affect millions of Americans, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe.
Do you think you may have a food sensitivity? Keep reading to learn all about food sensitivity testing and why you should do it to improve your health.
What Is Food Sensitivity?
Food sensitivity means your body is reacting to certain foods or their ingredients, typically leading to an inability to digest them or break them down in the digestive system. This is different from a food allergy or intolerance and the symptoms are usually milder and go away as soon as you stop eating the food that caused the issue.
What Are Some Common Food Sensitivity Symptoms?
Some of the most common food sensitivity symptoms include bloating, stomach pain, skin rashes, nausea, extreme changes in stool, headaches, and decreased energy levels.
The symptoms will not be present all at once and will differ from person to person. This is where the benefits of food sensitivity testing come into play as the best way to see what’s causing these problems.
What Is Food Sensitivity Testing?
To check for sensitivity to foods, you need to schedule a blood panel test in a laboratory. The test checks for IgE antibodies in your body. These antibodies react to the foods you’re sensitive to and the blood test will show which specific foods are problematic for you.
You don’t have to do anything to make any special preparations before your test. Talk to your doctor if you have any health problems or concerns before taking the test.
How Does Food Sensitivity Testing Work?
Once you schedule a food sensitivity test, you need to go to the clinic to get your blood drawn for analysis. The procedure can take up to 5-10 minutes. Luckily, you won’t need to try different types of foods to see what your body reacts to.
The lab will use up to 96 different types of food samples for the blood test to see which one causes the antibodies to get activated. After the testing, you’ll receive results showing the specific types of foods you’re sensitive to so you can avoid them.
Should You Get a Food Sensitivity Test?
If your symptoms are starting to negatively impact your everyday life, you should consider taking a food sensitivity test. The test will show if you have sensitivities or allergies to specific foods or food groups so you can determine if they’re causing issues.
Discovering which foods cause you trouble can help you improve your diet and even help with medical weight loss. Even if you don’t have food sensitivities, you’ll at least know the problem is not in the food you eat so you can do further examinations.
Should You Do Food Sensitivity Testing? Now You Know
Whether you’ve been struggling with digestive issues for years or are just noticing symptoms, it might be time to do food sensitivity testing to see what your body is dealing with.
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