More Enterolab results

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:23 pm

After getting my results for the 4 biggies, gluten, dairy, soy and eggs, and being reactive to all four, I decided to go ahead and get tested for the 11 other foods. I just got my results:

C) Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 38 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Interpretation of Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods: Overall, there was only a modest amount of immunological reactivity detected to these antigenic foods in terms of fecal IgA production.

Many foods besides gluten, cow’s milk, eggs, and soy are antigenic in their own right; the main classes of which include other grains, meats, nuts, and nightshades (potatoes being the primary food eaten from this latter class). Minimizing exposure to antigenic foods is an important component of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle to optimize immune system health. This is especially important for those with chronic abdominal symptoms and/or chronic immune/autoimmune syndromes, or for those who want to prevent them.

For immunologic food sensitivity testing, the actual numeric value (in Units) for any given test or for the overall average of a group of foods is important mainly for determining: 1) if the immune reaction is present or absent, and 2) in relative terms, the immune reaction to different foods tested in a given individual at a given point in time. It is not a score, per se, to be interpreted as a measure of clinical or immunological severity for that individual or between individuals. This is because the amount of IgA antibody made by a given person is particular for the immune function of that person. Furthermore, sometimes a person can display what can be viewed as immunological and nutritional “exhaustion,” whereby a more significant and symptomatic immunologic food sensitivity is accompanied by a lower positive measured anti-food antibody value (rather than a higher positive). In such an instance, following clinical improvement and improved nutritional status (while the suspect antigenic foods are withdrawn), values can actually be higher for a time before finally falling into the negative range after several years.

Thus, the overall average food sensitivity antibody value for this panel is an assessment of your overall humoral immunologic food reactivity, which can help determine if dietary elimination trials may help you. If the mean value is less than 10 Units, the humoral immune reactions can be considered absent (negative); if greater than or equal to 10 Units, they can be considered present. Rather than reporting the absolute value of a positive result for each individual food, since it cannot be considered as an assessment of severity, the results are reported in relative terms between the foods tested. This provides you with the knowledge of which foods are stimulating the most immune response which, in turn, is indeed the most practically applied information to dietary elimination trials. The report information that follows is based on these facts.

While all of the foods tested can be immune-stimulating, the hierarchy of reactions detected were as follows:

Food toward which you displayed most immunologic reactivity: Oat, Rice, Corn, Chicken
Food toward which you displayed intermediate reactivity: Tuna, Beef, White potato, Cashew
Food toward which you displayed least immunologic reactivity: Walnut, Pork, Almond

Within each class of foods to which you displayed multiple reactions, the hierarchy of those reactions detected were as follows:

Grains:
Grain toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Rice
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Corn

Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Chicken
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Tuna
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Beef
Meat toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Pork

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Cashew
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Walnut
Nut toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Almond

Nightshades:
You displayed immunologic reactivity to white potato, the member of the nightshade family usually consumed most often and in greatest quantities. While this does not necessarily mean you would react to all other nightshade foods (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), it is possible. In the realm of elimination diets for immunologic disorders, nightshades are usually eliminated as the entire food class (i.e., all four previously mentioned foods in this class). This is especially important to the clinical setting of arthritis.

I have been eating mostly lamb and rice lately. The D has stopped but I still have a lot of bloat, constantly, not seemingly in response to eating. I had already figured out that chicken wasn't a good choice for me and the results confirm it but I guess the rice will have to go too, which really is probably a good thing because it was playing havoc with my low carb ways. I have never liked tuna so never eat it. I guess I will add pork back in and almonds, which is good, since I have a lot of almond flour. Now to figure out what to do with it since the almond bread I used to make contained cheese which I no longer eat. I had added the rice in because I seemed to need something besides meat to keep me from feeling really hungry. I also want to stay on a low histamine diet since when I joined this group 6 weeks ago the mere act of eating caused severe WD within 15-30 minutes. Oh well... Back to the drawing board. Better to know than not know. Now to decide if I should get the MRT done. Money money money.

Jean

Post by **tex** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:36 pm

Hmmmmmmm. We're having more and more members showing sensitivities to chicken, oats, potatoes,and certain nuts. Very interesting.

Do you mind if I add you results to our list?

Thanks for posting your results,
Tex

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:42 pm

Certainly you may add them. It's interesting that the 2 most often mentioned "safe" foods, rice and chicken, are definitely not safe for me. This testing has certainly been worth it for me, along with all the info I have gained here, especially about mast cells. I am eagerly awaiting your book, Tex. I find myself confused about how all this fits together, although the fact that I have improved so dramatically is proof enough for me to continue along the path I am on.

Jean

Post by **tex** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:52 pm

Jean wrote:I find myself confused about how all this fits together,

Please don't feel like the Lone Ranger. We're all students in that graduate level laboratory course, and we're our own guinea pigs, and our own supervising prof. LOL.

Thanks, I've added your results.

Tex

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Mon May 14, 2012 4:40 pm

Hi Jean,

I'm sure it was hard to get the results but at least you get help moving forward.

I'm not sure if you can tolerate the uncured bacon but I've been enjoying that every morning. It is not cheap and like I told the boyfriend I can't afford to burn it. Also for foods to "fill up with" I've been eating sweet potatos. I'll also make mashed turnips (or rutabas) and potatoes in a 50-50 mix. I don't particularly like turnips or rutabags but if you mix in some white potatoes the whole dish tastes like potatoes. I've also roasted cubes of turnips or rutabags in the oven. Cut veggies in 1" cubes, soak in olive oil in zip lock, add some tumeric for color, spread out on cookie sheet, bake on 450 degree heat for 20-30 minutes. I try to get them "crispy." It is not as good as french fries but a good food to fill up on.

Good luck with everything, Brandy

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Mon May 14, 2012 5:35 pm

Thanks for the suggestions, Brandy. Except for the white potato which seems to be on the do not eat list the others all sound good. For a week or 2 I ate only meat but somehow I still felt hungry so I added rice although I hadn't really eaten it for years Seems like that was a bad idea. I think I will try some sweet potatoes to go with my meat and uncured bacon will go on my list too.

Jean

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:01 pm

Hi Jean,

Zizzle gets the credit for the uncured bacon tip but if you can tolerate it it is a huge treat! Yum! Brandy

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:02 pm

Hi Jean,

I think some people are ok with regular bacon but I get gurgling with that and most of us seem to tolerate the uncured bacon ok. brandy

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Tue May 15, 2012 4:35 am

tex wrote:
Jean wrote:I find myself confused about how all this fits together,

Please don't feel like the Lone Ranger. We're all students in that graduate level laboratory course, and we're our own guinea pigs, and our own supervising prof. LOL.

Thanks, I've added your results.

Tex

Tex - Thanks to this forum I don't feel like the Lone Ranger. It is not as hard for me as it seems to be for some people to severely restrict my foods as long as I have reason to believe that it is important that I do so. This forum is giving me the information about what it makes the most sense to restrict and the support to keep it up. I left graduate school before getting my PhD. Perhaps I can now get an honorary one.

Jean

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Tue May 15, 2012 6:49 am

Wow Jean - that's a lot of intolerances:(. Glad to hear you're able to take it in stride, and also that you're doing much better.

I recently made almond muffins from a recipe in "Paleo Comfort Foods" - a cook book Gabes recommended recently. They came out absolutely fabulous, and I took them along on my road trip. I'll be back home later this week, and can PM the recipe to you if you're interested.

Love,
Kari

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Tue May 15, 2012 7:13 am

Seemed like a lot to me too Kari, but on the other hand it's validation after a lifetime of got to learn to live with it IBS. Now at least there is something I can do that has the potential to make my life much easier, maybe even travel to St Lucia to see my daughter and enjoy the sun and surf.

I would like that recipe when you get back. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your travels.

Jean

coryhub · Post by **coryhub** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:32 am

Jean,
Your results make me want to rethink chicken.
Brandy,
Thanks for the idea of mashing white potatoes and turnip together. I do this with sweet potatoe and white potatoe but never thought about doing it with turnip which I love.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:58 am

tex wrote:Hmmmmmmm. We're having more and more members showing sensitivities to chicken, oats, potatoes,and certain nuts. Very interesting.

My question about these tests is whether they show the greatest reaction to foods we seem to be eating the most of (and whether it truly means you are highly reactive)? I also wonder if people might do better with organic potatoes, since I've read potatoes have tons of pesticides/herbicides in them.

Another tip I recently learned...Brandy you mentioned the sweet potatoes...Did you know you can reduce the Glycemic Index of your regular and sweet potatoes fairly dramatically by boiling instead of baking them? I rarely ate sweet potatoes because they took an hour in the oven. Now I simply cut them into big rounds and boil/steam then in an inch of water. They come out with a decidedly more "vegetable" texture, almost like cooked carrots. Then I peel and eat or mash first.

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:51 am

Zizzle wrote:
My question about these tests is whether they show the greatest reaction to foods we seem to be eating the most of (and whether it truly means you are highly reactive)? I also wonder if people might do better with organic potatoes, since I've read potatoes have tons of pesticides/herbicides in them.

I wondered the same thing Zizzle but my results definitely don't reflect more reactions to the food I eat most often. Of the 4 foods that I was most reactive to, 3 of them I hardly ate at all. When I sent in my sample I had not yet started eating rice and I can't remember the last time I had either corn or oats. Chicken I ate in moderate amounts. I've never liked tuna and can't remember the last time I ate it yet it was second after chicken in reactivity to meats. Same with nuts. I regularly baked with almond flour but almost never ate either cashews or walnuts yet almonds were my least reactive nut and cashew my most. It makes me trust the results more because they don't simply correspond to their frequency in my diet.

Jean

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue May 15, 2012 12:16 pm

Interesting, Jean. Thanks for clearing that up. I'm considering the full Enterolab workup for my daughter.