Best Test For Food Allergies Children

[Myooshka]

Hi I want to have our son tested for other food allergies as well. Any opinions on which is the most reliable. I was considering the Elisa test (blood test). Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to test?

[J4K]

I am an RN in an allergy/asthma office. Our allergist's usually do a skin test (also known as a scratch test) to foods that the child normally eats and then will back it up with a blood (also called a RAST) test. If these are negative, then they usually suggest an elimination diet to those food which you suspect your child may be allergic to even if they test negative. (there can sometimes be false negatives or positives which is why they do both tests) For an elimination diet, your take the food out that you are suspecting for two weeks and then gradually add it back in. This is done one food at a time. Also, if the food has tested negative, the MD may choose to do a food challenge test in the office. This is done by giving the child small increasing increments of the suspected food. This usually takes about three hours or more as they want to observe the child for a long period after ingestion. Usually the MD chooses the in office food challenge if the child has had a reaction to the food in the past but has tested negative or very low positive to the skin test or RAST test.

Hope this helps.

[missy'smom]

What she said. That's pretty much what our allergist did minus the blood tests. We are still plugging away at our elimination diet. I am currently reading a book called Food Allergies and Food Intolerances buy Jonathan Brostoff, M.D. and Linda Gamlin. So far I think it is layed out well, comprehensive but approachable. Explains all the possible issues with foods, symptoms and all the tests and their uses and short-comings, appropriateness for various situations and ages.

[shayesmom]

Hi I want to have our son tested for other food allergies as well. Any opinions on which is the most reliable. I was considering the Elisa test (blood test). Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to test?

If you're looking for food allergies, then yes, the most reliable thing to do is the scratch testing combined with the CapRAST. The combined result of those two tests usually are fairly accurate.

However, if you are suspecting food intolerances, then the ELISA could be useful. But you do have to keep in mind that if there's a problem with leaky gut, the ELISA may find antibodies to certain foods simply because you're eating a lot of that item and not due to a true intolerance.

Please be aware that these tests are not 100% accurate. There is risk for both false negatives as well as false positives. You may need to follow up with an elimination diet to get a better grasp on what you're dealing with.