In addition to the gluten story in the last blog entry, my IgG test has even more to offer, because according to the test I am “allergic” to a total of almost 20 foods.
Now I knew in advance about the problems with the IgG tests and, mean as I am, I wanted to influence them. The seitan only worked to a limited extent. However, I also wanted to influence the herring value and therefore ate an enormous amount of herring before the test. Which, by the way, is a big challenge for me, because as a biologist I have not eaten seafood for almost 20 years out of conviction. Therefore, my IgG would have to be extremely low for this. I am not allergic to fish and I tolerated the herring perfectly. Unfortunately, it tasted good too.
IgG values increase after 6-8 weeks
Univ.-Doz. Dr. Kofler from the allergy laboratory in Hall explained to me that it can take up to eight weeks to measure the increase in IgG levels after contact with the food. So my seitan provocation would not have worked. I tell him about my herring experiment. Since I have eaten a lot of herring, my IgG value should be high, but low for other marine fish. Unfortunately, that was not the case. All IgG values for marine animals were normal.
“That’s logical,” says Dr. Kofler. The increased IgG values are only detectable after six to eight weeks. Therefore, my test did not show any reaction to herring and as I have not eaten fish for 20 years, my IgG level is low. If I were to repeat the test in a few weeks, i.e. six to eight weeks after consumption, the value would probably be higher. However, since we do not know the respective standard values or the standard ranges used by the provider – as would be usual in a scientific test as it is shown in a usual medical report – it is questionable whether the next test in a few weeks would really indicate a “food intolerance”.
But one thing is clear to me: I’m going to try it out. Otherwise I wouldn’t have eaten so much herring. In any case, I will tell you about it(update will follow after receiving the new test), because if it works, it shows very impressively how pointless such tests are.
The horse milk scandal
The second riddle is mare’s milk. According to the IgG test, I am very allergic to all types of milk, including mare’s milk (horse milk). I ask my mother if I ever had mare’s milk as a child. She is surprised by the question and answers in the negative. She wouldn’t know where to get it and who would even drink it… So I ask myself, if IgG reflects what you have consumed in the last months or years, why is my mare’s milk IgG so high when I have never drunk mare’s milk? Do you remember the horsemeat scandal? I have a bad feeling… I may now have uncovered a horse milk scandal!
According to the IgG evaluation, the test subjects react not only to mare’s milk, but also to goat’s milk, cow’s milk, sheep’s milk, casein, fresh cheese, butter, cream, young cheese, matured cheese, hard cheese, soft cheese and moldy cheese. And just as strong as on mare’s milk. Dr. Kofler puts the brakes on my horse milk conspiracy theory and explains to me that casein, i.e. the milk protein, is non-species-specific. This means that if a test responds to cow casein, it will also respond to mare casein, goat casein and sheep casein. Not only the test responds to it, but also the person. Genuine casein allergy sufferers (IgE) cannot consume any of these types of milk, precisely because casein is not species-specific. But why the manufacturers of the IgG tests still list 13 (!) food groups individually instead of just casein, I leave to the reader’s interpretation. Just this much: customers decide when to buy such a test based on two arguments: Price and the number of foods tested.
IgG test shows what you have eaten. Nothing else.
These three examples of my IgG test clearly show what such a test does. It shows what you eat a lot of and what you eat a little of. Nothing more. It indicates neither an allergy nor an intolerance. It can neither help me lose weight nor improve my life. The allergology and gastroenterology associations are therefore right to advise against such tests.
Diet tips and diets based on such tests can have fatal consequences, as I will show you in the next article.
