Food intolerance testing from hair.

I have used York Test Laboratories to diagnose and monitor a dairy intolerance over the past five years or so. They use blood sampling, www.yorktest.com/

However according to The Guardian its all rubbish: www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/04/bogus-allergy-tests-causing-real-harm-say-experts

I have vastly improved my symtoms of intense muscle pain and stomach upsets, but this could either be from cutting out dairy, or it might be due to retiring and dramatically reducing my stress levels. Either way eating no dairy (which means cutting out cake, confectionery, creamy sauces, butter, milk etc etc) makes it remarkably easy to manage your weight. The thought of having to endure numerous trips to the loo makes a slab of chocolate cake look vastly less appealing.

Shysal, I sympathise as I've been through a similar performance. Still get erratic bowel movements and acid reflux. As well as taking an H2 blocker for the reflux I also take pure Aloe Vera gel and make my own kefir.
My doctor has also done a blood test to rule out ovarian cancer which often has similar symptoms. Ask her to speak to GP about that too, just to be on the safe side.
As far as intolerances go, it could be anything or nothing. I'm also trying A2 milk at the moment to see if it makes a difference. Good luck.

I had all these symptoms and some others for many years - eventually I went to a private doctor who recommended me to a specialist - none of this was cheap of course - but the specialist discovered that the enzyme in my stomach that controls histamine was not working - my body was inflamed throughout , he put me on a histamine intolerance diet which was dire, but it solved all the problems - it might be worth her googling histamine intolerance - I can eat normally now , although I do have histamine diet days when I have overdone it - I hope this might help her.

My DD (38) had suffered for years with bad stomach pains and bloating, since being a little girl, and no Dr or hospital tests had shown anything. In desperation she went to a recommended kinseologist and after her consultation, she was told it was a severe gluten intolerance. DD is also a veggie and was told that peppers were also causing her issues. She now has a gluten free diet, no peppers ! And she is the best she has been in her whole life.

Try reading up about FODMAPs. This is advice on what to avoid if you are suffering from IBS

I think the food diary is a much better idea.

I have read that many of these food intolerance/allergy tests are worthless. If someone is going to eliminate certain foods from their diet they must be sure that it is necessary to do so.

Thankyou, HjJ. That confirms my doubts!

Here's a quote from an American scientific paper about testing for food allergies or intolerances by analysing hair.

Hair sampling is a safe and noninvasive method of revealing nutritional deficiencies.Reality: Hair is made up of a protein, keratin, that can be analyzed to determine its mineral content. That data can be used to find out if the body is lacking in certain minerals, but it can't tell you whether you have food intolerances, allergist Lee Freund wrote in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Food Allergies." Double-blind studies haven't shown any diagnostic value for this test.
You can test for drug abuse using hair, but you need the hair follicle.
Hope this is helpful.

Maybe keep a food diary? And list her reactions to different foods?
I am usually pretty unwell with certain bread products, but I read somewhere that it’s likely to be the fertilisers and various crop sprays that we are intolerant too, not the Gluten.
Not that this helps, I need to try to eat only organic bread products and see if that helps when we return from our holiday, as when I am abroad I can tolerate bread quite well.
I too have heard that different screening companies give different results.
As Monica says it’s easier to do a food trial ourselves than wait around for the Doctor.

I have read that journalists sending samples of their hair to different laboratories have received list of food stuffs that it is claimed they are allergic to, that are entirely different from one company to another.

If your DD wants to go down this route why not get your GP to refer you to a medical allergist, either under the NHS or privately. DGD and DDiL who both have allergy problems were assessed by the allergist at their local hospital.

The other thing to do is run her own elimination trial. Remove food groups, one at a time; dairy, gluten, etc etc for a fortnight and then introduce them back slowly and see if her symptoms improve with elimination and deteriorate when she starts eatingthem again.

I thought as you do BlueBelle, but her DH had his done, which didn't flag up gluten. For him it was pork/bacon products, which he had noticed upset his stomach. DD did try cutting out gluten for a while in the past, but I don't think she gave it enough time. She is getting desperate now so will try again.

Personally I m very sceptical and if this kind of test was that good the medical world would be using it
Gluten seems to be a BIG problem for a lot of people so they probably put that on everyone’s list ( fairly safe to be right then) however even without the test it would be useful for your daughter to cut gluten out for a month and see if there’s any improvement