Intolerances differ significantly from allergies. Unlike allergies, intolerances may vary from situation to situation, while an allergy always produces the same reaction. Intolerances are caused by the body’s inability to process specific substances and may cause bloating, digestive problems such as gas and/or diarrhea, fatigue, headaches and even the inability to lose weight or weight gain.
Symptoms may be difficult to link to specific foods, environmental substances or food additives because they may not occur until hours or days later. To complicate the situation, each individual has a different tolerance for specific foods, so even if a person has an intolerance, it may be mild so that a small amount of the food doesn’t cause a reaction until enough of the food is eaten or is consumed consistently over time.
Test Details
The ALCAT 50 Food Sensitivity and Intolerance Panel is a simple blood test that measures the body’s cellular reactivity to 50 highly reactive foods including Apple, Baker’s Yeast, Banana, Barley, Beef, Black Pepper, Broccoli, Butternut Squash, Cabbage, Cane Sugar, Cantaloupe, Carrot, Casein, Cauliflower, Chicken, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Corn, Cottonseed, Cow’s Milk, Egg White, Egg Yolk, Fructose, Garlic, Gluten/Gliadin, Grape, Green Pea, Iceberg Lettuce, Lamb, Lemon, Mustard, Oat, Onion, Orange Peanut, Pear, Pork, Rice (Brown/White), Shrimp, Soybean, Strawberry, String Bean, Sweet Potato, Tomato, Tuna, Turkey, Vanilla, Wheat, White Potato, and Yellow Squash.
FAQs
"This content is for educational purposes and does not substitute personalized medical advice."
Quentin Caswell, MSN, is an Integrative and Functional Medicine Specialist dedicated to helping patients feel their best. Board certified in advanced bioidentical hormone replacement and peptide therapy, he earned his Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and opened Advanced Practice Wellness Clinic in 2011.