At-Home Food Sensitivity Test Options

IgG Food Sensitivity (Delayed Response)
A food sensitivity, sometimes called intolerance, is when the immune system produces specific IgG antibodies. These antibodies can lead to an inflammatory process and take up to three days after the consumption of a trigger food to manifest discernable physical symptoms. Use your food sensitivity test results as a guide to start a targeted temporary elimination diet to help eliminate or reduce your symptoms.

IgE Food Allergy (Immediate Response)
A food allergy is when the immune system produces specific IgE antibodies. These antibodies typically lead to an immediate allergic reaction that may even be life threatening. Within seconds or minutes of eating a trigger food, the symptoms appear instantly and may include severe swelling, breathing difficulty, rash, itching skin or even anaphylactic shock. Many allergies are mild and only manifest themselves intermittently, when the body experiences exposure to multiple allergens at the same time.

This is not a Food Allergy (IgE) Test. A Food Allergy IgE test is useful to help pinpoint acute allergic reactions. If you are interested in 4U Health’s Food Allergy (IgE) Test, please click here.

This test may benefit people with physical symptoms possibly attributed to their diet and who are open to trying to eliminate certain foods to help feel their best. For people not knowing where to start, 4U Health’s Food Sensitivity test measures your body’s IgG immune response to foods and provides a road map to create a targeted temporary elimination diet.

Food-induced intolerance symptoms can appear hours or days after consuming certain intolerable foods. If you are experiencing symptoms that you believe are related to food sensitivities, testing your body’s antibody response to these 240 diverse foods may help identify the cause of your physical symptoms.

Possible Symptoms of a Food Intolerance:

• Digestive

• Bloating
• Indigestion
• Gas
• Gastrointestinal distress
• Stomach or abdominal pain

• Head

• Acne
• Brain fog/trouble focusing
• Headaches and migraines
• Sinus congestion

• Body

• Bronchitis
• Fatigue
• General feeling of discomfort
• Inflammation/joint pain
• Insomnia
• Rash / skin problems

A temporary elimination diet is a tool to identify food sensitivities that may be causing you not to feel your best. Prioritizing foods you have a high IgG reactivity to is a great place to start. Although we recommend seeking guidance from a physician to supervise your elimination diet, many people successfully identify food triggers following the general principles listed below.

Step 1
Use your Food Sensitivity (IgG) Test results as a road map by starting with the most common foods you suspect may be causing your symptoms. Temporarily remove up to 4 of these foods at a time. After 21 days of avoiding certain foods, you should start feeling better if you hit on your trigger.

Step 2
Next, you add these “suspect” foods back to your diet, one at a time every 4 days, and watch for the appearance of symptoms.

If the reintroduction of a food does not cause a new symptom, then continue eating it as a normal part of your diet. If you add back all the eliminated foods and have no symptoms, temporarily take out up to 4 new foods from your diet and repeat step 2.

Conversely, if you get symptoms after adding an ingredient back to your diet, then you’ve likely identified a food sensitivity. You can stop the temporary elimination diet at that point or continue if you suspect more than one food is at fault.

Tips

• Start by cutting out the foods with the highest reactivity level you consume most. Then move on to less common ones with lower reactivity levels to help you figure out your culprit faster.
   
• Read food labels to see if packaged goods contain any ingredients you’re temporarily avoiding. When eating out, ask the restaurant staff what’s in the foods you order. Forms of gluten, dairy, and other triggers can hide in more places than you might think!
   
• Recent research has found you can deprive yourself of nutrients if you cut out too many foods at once. Physicians do not advise eliminating more than 3 or 4 foods from your diet at any time without professional guidance.

4U Health’s 240 – Comprehensive Food Sensitivity (IgG) Test is designed for individuals to use their results to guide a temporary elimination diet with an add-back challenge to identify foods that may be causing unwanted symptoms. We do not recommend the use of the results of the Food Sensitivity Test to achieve weight loss.

• This test is not intended for the following individuals:

• History of eating disorders: Food elimination diets may trigger a recurrence of disordered eating behaviors. For people with a history of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating, or any other related eating disorder, it is not recommended to utilize the test as part of a food elimination diet without the supervision of an attending physician.
   
• Pregnant or breastfeeding women: Expectant and nursing women have specific nutritional needs. For this reason, they should not utilize this test as part of an elimination diet without the supervision of a healthcare provider or nutritionist.
   
• Specimens collected in New York State: This test is not available for patient self-collection in NY.
   
• Children under 2-years-old: The test taker must be 2+ years old.

Results are not intended as a definitive diagnosis or to strictly limit your consumption of all reactive foods identified. Eating a balanced diet is important. Removing too many foods will inhibit your ability to obtain the necessary calories and nutrients from a balanced diet.

Test now or within one year of purchase. This kit has a guaranteed expiration date of at least 12 months. That’s great news if you are buying more than one test to recheck yourself in the future or gifting to a friend or family member for later use.

All 4U Health tests are eligible for gifting. In fact, they make great presents. The recipient who receives your gift will simply open the kit, register it, and follow the collection instructions. Within a few days of sending to the lab, your friend or family member will receive secure electronic HIPAA compliant results all thanks to your generosity.

4U Health tests meet national standards and are as accurate as services provided in a doctor’s office or hospital. We only work with the highest quality CLIA certified laboratories and health experts. All testing complies with state and federal regulations. And our clinicians provide medical oversight throughout the entire process.

Rest assured; HIPAA security standards protect your data every step of the way while determining your food intolerances. Keeping your confidential data secure is our number one priority. We only share your information when required to deliver our products and services or where we are legally obligated to do so. Your results are securely protected and available for review in your online portal; always secure but easily accessible only to you.

4U Health is not enrolled in Medicare or any other private insurance network. That’s great because Medicare and most other federal, state, or private insurance carriers do not cover IgG food sensitivity testing. Simply pay our affordable upfront rate and receive no surprise sky-high medical bills. This test is not eligible for Medicare or any other federal or state-funded insurance program reimbursement.

So you still have unanswered questions. No worries, we’d love to hear from you. Reach us by e-mail, phone or chat and we will do our best to provide answers so you can determine if this is the best test for you or your child.

• 866-610-1200
• help@4uhealth.com
• Chat Support 
   
• PO Box 100083
  Pittsburgh, PA 15233