Food Sensitivity Tests: Worse than Useless

Great news! You don’t have to shell out hundreds of dollars on food sensitivity testing. If you’ve already done the test, I’m so sorry you wasted your money, but the great news for you is that there’s no need to eliminate the hundreds of foods you’ve probably been told you’re “sensitive” to. 

I’m usually an easygoing, friendly person. But whenever I hear that someone has been told to spend money on something for their health that has absolutely zero science behind it, I get mad. Lately, that thing is “IgG Food Sensitivity Testing.” This name might sound sciencey and legit, but don’t be fooled–these tests are totally bogus. They’re expensive and flashy, but useless.

You’ll find these tests at places like LifeLabs, and you’ll pay hundreds of dollars to receive a long list of foods that you’ll be instructed to eliminate. In reality, that list of foods is simply showing foods that your body tolerates. It’s IgE-mediated food allergies that are real and serious. The Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI) has published an excellent position statement warning against these tests. They rightly point out that there is no evidence that the tests predict adverse reactions to individual foods, and worse, that they can miss the potentially life-threatening IgE-mediated food allergies, meaning that allergic individuals may decide to re-introduce foods that could harm or kill them. 

As a dietitian, it’s hard to see clients restricting their diets for absolutely no reason. Eating a wide variety of nutritious foods is a fundamental principle of a healthy diet, and when this is made more complicated and difficult based on a sham of a test, it’s a waste of everyone’s time and energy. These tests also add to the general confusion and noise around food and health. Ideally, these tests and their results would carry warnings that they are not backed by any scientific evidence, or they simply wouldn’t be offered at all. 

One of the reasons these tests get to me is that symptoms like digestive distress can be hard to pinpoint and resolve. This means that people who are trying to improve their health are vulnerable to companies making false promises. Any provider telling people to get this test done needs to consider the position paper linked above and weigh the pros and cons (and I can’t see a single pro here). 

So there you go–if someone suggests getting one of these tests done, run away. Or better still, explain that there’s no science behind them, that actual allergists recommend against them, and that a much better option is to talk to your family doctor, allergist, or a dietitian about the symptoms you’re experiencing. If you’re feeling chronically tired, you might have low iron, for example. It’s worth investigating your options so that you can enjoy your life, but this is one option not worth your valuable time and money.