York Test Results

[judy05]

Hi,

I just got the results from my York blood test.I have been advised to avoid cow's milk, yeast, corn, egg whites, and wheat.

The foods with no reaction include barley, gliadin(gluten),oats, and rye.

I take that to mean I have a wheat (not gluten) intolerance. This next statement is the one that confuses me "Those with wheat intolerance will still experience adverse symptoms from gluten-free products, as the remaining part of the wheat will be effecting them. They may, or may not be able to eat rye, barley, and oats, that are part of the wheat family and as with many other food intolerances, may be able to reintroduce wheat back into the diet after a period of elimination."My question is are they saying that gluten-free products can contain wheat with the gluten protein removed? Can someone explain this to me, I can't quite get my head around it?

Any or all comments will be appreciated.

[debmidge]

don't take the test results as gospel. my husband got similar results and his gastro told him to take with big grain of salt; and quite possibly it could be bogus. go to Quackwatch.com for list of tests that are not considered reliable. This is one of them, as it appears on Quackwatch.

[plantime]

I thought York was supposed to be one of the good labs? What test did they run on your blood to come to that conclusion?

[judy05]

It was a 113 food IgG ELISA In Depth Panel. I'm going to try to follow it because I knew I had a problem with wheat and dairy. I was surprised about the corn, egg whites. Yeast doesn't surprise me because I have an allergy to mold. Corn syrup is in a lot of foods. I did the test because I was having right -sided pain and having trouble losing weight. I have lost 20lbs but I need to lose at least 20 more. My GI doc poo-poo'd it but I need to feel better, I'm still having trouble sleeping and I'll try anything to get better.

[KaitiUSA]

I've heard York to be a good testing and one of my doctors even recommended me getting one done(before they knew it was celiac) Some doctors just don't like it and are close minded and they will make every excuse in the book not to get it done.

[kvogt]

York tests for IgG antibodies. These abate after a period of time of allergen abstinance, so if you have been gluten free, they may be lower for wheat. They don't test for IgA, which is the better indicator of celiac disease as well as EMA and TtG. You know you have a gluten problem (i.e. celiac disease), so continue to stay gluten-free for life. If you only had a "wheat allergy" and not an auto-immune reaction, you might be able to resume wheat after a period of time. The comment about wheat in gluten-free products concerns the use of Codex wheat starch in europe, supposedly safe for celiacs. If you have a wheat allergy, it isn't safe despite its lack of/low gluten content.

[judy05]

Thanks Kvogt. Your answer makes sense to me. It's funny that I have been gluten-free for over a year and I'm still reacting to wheat, it wasn't as strong as the dairy and yeast but definitely needs to be avoided. I'm going to stay gluten free for life but I would someday like to do an elimination diet for dairy. Thanks for all of the comments, if this test is not valid then why do so many people feel better after avoiding the offending foods?

[KaitiUSA]

I think it is valid ...I was recommended by my doc as I said earlier...alot of people have these testings done. I think some doctors exed it off from day one because of their way of thinking.

[debmidge]

Why I feel that York is at least questionnable:

1) My husband was diagnosed IBS since 1977 has never eaten the following in all this time and York said he was sensitive to these foods: Nuts: Cashew, brazil, hazelnut, almond; Lentils (that's a laugh); chili pepper (that's even funnier); garlic. So based on the theory that if you avoid something for a while, you should not get antibodies to it, then the York test is wrong.

2) He also tested posiitve with York for wheat and at that point he was doing gluten-free for 8 months. That one I'll be open minded about. But the other foods have not been consumed by him since 1977; so how can he have anti bodies to something he hasn't eaten in those many years.

3) We did the 113 Food IgG ELISA test on our own. The gastro doctor saw the results and wasn't impressed and told us not to put too much value on them.

I did see this ELISA test spoken about on Quackwatch.com. When someone is ill, it's easy to try anything to feel better and I'd hate to have companies preying on celiacs and promoting things which are questionnable.

To Judy05 only: just a thought - see ob/gyn about your right-sided pain to rule out that type of problem.

[plantime]

Judy05, Right-side pain? Have you been tested for gall bladder or appendix problems?

[judy05]

I've been tested 4 times for GB problems. This usually occurs if I eat too much fruit

I know it's not appendix, I'm a nurse and the pain is not in that area. A long time ago I was diagnosed with dyskinesia which is a spasm in the common duct, there is a procedure to relieve that but it hasn't shown up on my test again. Of course the doctor won't do anything without proof.

I'm not surprised that wheat is still showing up, it's almost impossile to be completely gluten-free, we all have accidents. I know someone who didn't get better for a full 3 years after being diagnosed. I'm not sure how they test, I know some of the foods that I had no reaction to I have never eaten. Maybe they test to see how you would react if you did eat them? I'm amazed how they could test for 113 foods with such a small amount of blood.I'm going to try sticking to the test results for at least 2-3 months. I always knew I had a problem with wheat, dairy, and yeast. The eggs whites and corn were a suprise but they are not uncommon allergens.

[debmidge]

I called York about the test results and asked specifically why a food sensitvity would show up when it wasn't consumed in years.

They told me that they test for antibodies for the food. If you don't consume that particular food, you won't have antibodies for it. I would presume that after not eating something for over 20 years you should not have anti bodies in your bloodstream for that item. That's why I am unconvinced this test is accurate.

My husband has not had those nuts; not even in oil form (as they suggested); he hasn't had lentils since 1978 about; he eats his food plain and at time of test, had not eaten out in restaurant in over 8 mos. Very perplexing to me.

[Melanie]

Deb, the life of antibodies vary a lot. Some viral and bacterial diseases we are immune to for the rest of our lives and others we are not. I know they (especially viruses) change rapidly so we have to get yearly vaccines for some and not others, but in general how long antibodies stay around in your body varies a lot so these antibodies could show up for years after not eating the item and contamination especially with nuts is so common that they could help keep antibody levels present in your blood even if we haven't had them in a long time. To explain lifelong immunity, scientists believe that there is some antigen (so some nut proteins or viral proteins) library in the thymus and they periodically cause reactivation of antibodies so we get life long immunity even to things that are not harmful and without exposure. I will try to find out more because I am having the same questions.

[debmidge]

But if we follow the theory, after long term avoidance of the food, the food should be re-introduced and the sensitivity should be gone. I can under stand cross contamination of nut products, but not the lentils. My jury is stilll out on this issue.

[Melanie]

I think the sensitivity MAY be gone and not should be gone. It depends on the immune response mounted. Antibodies do cross react so maybe there is some cross reaction going on so your husband has some antibodies that are reacting to their lentil antigen? Just a thought.

They use IgG Elisas to test food allergies in animals all the time. It is standard.

I'm sorry I don't think quackwatch.com is a reliable source.

[Melanie]

Open Original Shared Link

They offer IgG and IgE Elisa food allergy testing. Thought that was cool because food allergies are not only mediated by IgG that york tests for.