ALCAT Food Sensitivity
ALCAT Food Sensitivity enables you to take advantage of leading technology to create a personalized eating plan resulting in benefits that can be seen and felt.
WHY TEST WITH US?
- The ALCAT Test uncovers foods and other substances that trigger chronic inflammation and related health conditions, such as gastrointestinal, respiratory, and joint issues as well as migraine, dermatitis, fatigue, and metabolic disorders.
- The test can measures cellular reactions to over 450 substances. Scientific studies using the ALCAT Test to guide diet have shown significant improvement of many common symptoms. To date, the ALCAT Test has helped well over half a million people change their health.
- There is a new paradigm in health and medicine – personalization. Health can be improved and maintained by knowing how food plays a role in your body.
- The ALCAT Test enables you to take advantage of leading technology to create a personalized eating plan resulting in benefits that can be seen and felt.
- The results from the ALCAT Test help determine which foods and other substances may trigger unwanted inflammation. Check our Platinum Plus ALCAT Test here.
THE ALCAT OVERVIEW
The ALCAT Food Sensitivity test, more formally is a leukocyte (white blood cell) activation test that analyzes direct, pro-inflammatory cellular responses of the innate immune system.
What is the difference between a sensitivity, allergy and intolerance? The main pivot point between them is whether the immune system is activated.
FOOD SENSITIVITY
Food Sensitivity: A food sensitivity is harder to identify than a food allergy since the immune response can be delayed. Symptoms may surface hours, days, or weeks after the food exposure. Symptoms are not severe and may not be gut-related, so you might not make the connection right away.
Food Allergy: A food allergy is generally thought to be an immune-mediated reaction to a food (different than an intolerance). And food sensitivities are different than food allergies, which involve IgE antibodies. With food sensitivities, the immune system makes antibodies against foods such as IgG, IgA, or IgM (immunoglobulins G, A, or M) and these can be measured with blood tests.
Antibodies are made by the immune system and are proteins that your immune system uses to fight infections caused by viruses or bacteria. If the same infection enters your body in the future, it will help to protect you against it. Antibodies can be made against other foreign materials such as pollen, dander, dust, or foods.
There are a few different types of immunoglobulins, or antibodies:
- IGA – antibodies found in the mucous membranes of the lungs, sinuses, stomach, and intestines
- IGG – antibodies in the blood that help your body “remember” the germs you have been exposed to previously and protect you against being re-infected
- IGM – these are the antibodies your body makes when you are first infected with a new bacteria or germs
- IGE – these are the antibodies often responsible for food allergies, such as peanut or strawberry. IgE may have evolved to protect us against parasite infestation.
Symptoms due to food sensitivities can include:
- Acne
- Acid reflux
- Bloating
- Bowel changes
- Brain fog
- Depression
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Flare-up of auto-immune
- Symptoms
- Headaches
- Joint pain
- Migraines
- Mood changes
- Runny nose
- Skin rashes
- Weight changes
What Is The Root Cause Of Food Sensitivity?
Leaky gut and food sensitivities are two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately, if you have autoimmunity, there is a good chance you also have a leaky gut (also known as intestinal permeability). The lining in your gut is very thin, but strong, that is until it opens somehow. Normally, your gut lining will protect you from all kinds of bacteria, toxins, and undigested food particles.
When your gut lining is unhealthy, it can develop little holes in the intestinal wall. This can allow undigested food, bacteria, and toxins to escape the gut and enter the bloodstream – triggering inflammation. Leaky gut can change your gut flora (the good bacteria that live in your gut) and worsen inflammation. Intestinal permeability can be a feature of some conditions including celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and is associated with autoimmune disorders (especially lupus, type 1 diabetes, and multiple sclerosis).
Your immune system exists to protect you from invaders. The things that mistakenly pass through a leaky gut lining are considered to be dangerous invaders by the immune system and it reacts. Your immune system has an immune memory (creating memory cells for these proteins or undigested foods) – it will react to the invaders it remembers, such as foods that your body is sensitive to. Each time your body is exposed to a certain food protein, it will remember it and react by sending your antibodies to fight it. What Are the Most Common Food Sensitivities?
First of all, this is an extremely individualized question. Everybody’s diet and sensitivities to foods are personalized as well as their reactions. Common food sensitivities include dairy, grains such as wheat or corn, and soy.
Gluten or wheat – Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, not a food sensitivity, that is triggered by gluten and causes damage to the small intestine. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) occurs when a person gets symptoms from eating gluten, but they don’t experience the tissue damage, immune response, or diagnostic test results that are characteristic of celiac disease. Common symptoms of NCGS include brain fog, joint pain, headache, numbness in legs, arms, or fingers. People can also have sensitivities to other components of wheat (not gluten) or wheat allergy. We often see gluten or wheat sensitivities in Hashimoto’s disease.
Dairy – dairy sensitivity is an immune response to one or more milk proteins found in cow’s milk. Dairy sensitivity may show up as constipation, diarrhea, headaches, congestion, ear infections, and more. Other common food sensitivities are grains (especially corn), soy, and eggs.
What is IGG Testing?
- Measures antibodies, a parameter of the specific immune system
- Identifies exposure to foods, not a pathological process/sensitivity
- May indicate tolerance to the food rather than an intolerance
- Uses the ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) method
- Mainly directed at protein agents
Synopsis of IGg testing: Food sensitivity tests typically look for the presence of IgG (not IgE). IgG antibodies have not been shown to reliably identify either food allergies or sensitivities. Most people produce IgG antibodies after eating food. They are not specific to a person’s sensitivity, although past or frequent exposure to a food may cause these levels to be higher.
Because IgG blood tests have not been proven to identify food sensitivities or allergies, there is a lack of evidence to support making changes based on their findings. The restrictions suggested by IgG test results may lead you to unnecessarily avoid healthy foods. Or, they may prompt individuals with food allergies to include foods that could be harmful to them.
Contemporary research suggests that the presence of IgG antibodies indicates exposure and tolerance. IgG4 antibodies may actually help sustain tolerance to a food or compound
- Contemporary research suggests that the presence of IgG antibodies indicates exposure and tolerance. IgG4 antibodies may actually help sustain tolerance to a food or compound
- IGG class antibodies may block negative effects of IgE antibodies
- Expert committees of international scientific societies do not recommend the use of IgG antibody testing for the detection of food sensitivities.
- Poor specificity (high false positive results)
- Unnecessary dietary restrictions/false “diagnoses”
- Not an indicator of food allergy or food sensitivity, but a natural physiological response of the immune system to food/allergen exposure
How Long It Takes And What Is The Process?
- 1Once you purchase your ALCAT Food Sensitivity test from RCA Nutrition, you can sit back and relax knowing you are in good hands.
- 2A test kit will be mailed to you in approximately 3-5 business days.
- 3Once you receive your test kit you have 2 options for the blood draw, a walk-in option and a mobile phlebotomy option.
- 4Once your blood draw is complete the lab or mobile phlebotomist will mail in your samples and your test results will be completed.
- 5We will receive your results in approximately 7- 10 business days and will expedite them to your inbox!
Blood Draw Options
Mobile Phlebotomy
if you decide that you would rather have a mobile phlebotomist come to you, we can have this ordered for $75 by checking the “mobile phlebotomist option in the checkbox of the ALCAT you want to purchase.
Walk-In Blood Draw
Once you have received your test kit, you may reach out to a local hospital, lab, or their physician for the blood draw.
In addition, to see a list of labs around you that have partnered with Cell systems for walk-ins for the ALCAT blood draw You can utilize the following links:
For either option, Please be very well hydrated and to wear a garment that has short sleeves or sleeves that can easily be rolled up for the blood draw.If you are taking anti-histamine supplements, stop them 48 hrs before the blood draw.