Blood Test for Food Allergies

Food allergies can be a minor, major, or even deadly health risk. Food allergies can cause itching, constipation, diarrhea, swelling, anaphylaxis (closed throat), or a rash. When doing a food allergy test, don't try to diagnose it yourself. This approach often causes the elimination of nutrients that the body needs. In fact, even worse, misdiagnosis can also cause serious illness to not recover. When visiting a doctor, you must take precautions to communicate all relevant information. You also need to make sure that the treatment the doctor recommends makes scientific sense.

These types of allergens are commonly found in foods, such as beans, seafood, or soybeans. In addition to food, drugs such as penicillin antibiotics, are also included in gastrointestinal allergens.

Indications for an Allergy Test

Allergies can occur to anyone, but are generally more susceptible to children and people who have a family history of allergies, such as asthma or eczema.

Allergy tests can be done through the skin or taking blood samples. But allergy testing through the skin is a more common method of examination. This test aims to detect the type of allergen that causes allergies in the patient's body. Skin allergy testing is performed on someone who is suspected of suffering from allergies to certain substances (such as animal hair or food), which causes a person to suffer from allergic rhinitis, asthma, dermatitis, or swelling under the skin (angioedema).
Blood allergy test

Blood allergy testing is generally done if the patient is feared to experience a severe allergic reaction to an allergy test through the skin. Blood allergy testing is done by checking immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the blood. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is an antibody produced by the immune system to fight substances that are considered a threat to the body. When the body experiences an allergic reaction, the amount of IgE will increase. The measured IgE can be the sum of all IgE antibodies in the body (total IgE test) or IgE antibody response levels to an allergen (specific IgE test). Blood allergy testing begins with taking a blood sample, then the blood sample will be checked into the laboratory for analysis.

The procedure for blood allergy testing generally takes less than 5 minutes, but takes several days until the test results come out.

Elimination Diet

An elimination diet is generally done to detect food allergies in patients. The elimination diet procedure is divided into two phases, namely:

Elimination phase. This phase is done by avoiding the consumption of foods that are suspected of being triggers for allergic symptoms. Some types of foods are generally avoided, including nuts, milk, eggs, and seafood. In this phase, the patient can detect whether allergy symptoms are caused by food or other things. The elimination phase lasts 2-3 weeks.
Reintroduction phase. This phase is done by re-consuming the types of food that were previously slowly avoided. During the reintroduction phase, patients or doctors can observe possible signs of allergies, such as a rash, flatulence, or shortness of breath. If the sign appears, the allergens are identified and patients are advised to avoid consuming these foods.
The whole process of elimination diet generally takes 5-6 weeks. Consult your doctor or nutritionist before taking an elimination diet. Too much elimination of eating can cause the body to lack nutrition.