Test Results

[dhouts]

Here are my test results from EnteroLab. While I'm not surprised, I'm baffled about the rice and the almonds. After reading a lot of the posts here, I figured I could eat rice; so, I started eating it again, and the only dairy product left to put aside was the little bit of 2% milk that I added to my one cup of morning coffee. Almond milk replaced the dairy milk and I also started eating GF cereal; corn chex, rice checks, and cheerios, but no more...they never bothered me because I'm on 9mg of Budesonide. I cannot eat eggs, they have always made me gag, even as a preschooler I remember sitting at the table crying because I was forced to eat them. I was out of town a couple of weeks ago and I ate a disgusting pre-made egg because there wasn't another choice. I blew through the medication and I had a strong feeling that chicken eggs would show a problem when the results arrived. I am actually relieved that I can no longer eat chicken eggs. I think the only thing that troubles me is the rice and the almonds. I know I have options and I've already moved on to plan B.

Here's my question: It's recommended that I avoid night shades. I'm wondering if having them cooked as apposed to raw is better; or, should they be avoided all together. My boyfriend is a chef and cooks all the meals. I forwarded my results so that he could absorb the information and last night he cooked ground turkey with a tomato sauce. I had some for lunch today and my tummy, 9 hours later is still not happy. I haven't blown through the meds but I did make and extra solid BM trip to the bathroom. Hmmm...maybe I'm answering my own question here. I'll skip the sauce and see how I feel.

Okay, here it is:

EnteroLab www.enterolab.com
Specialized Laboratory Analysis for Optimum Intestinal and Overall Health
Kenneth D. Fine, M.D.
Medical Director
13661 Jupiter Road, Suite 307 Dallas, Texas 75238
Laboratory Report
Date: 10/9/2016
Name: Houts, Diana
DOB: 9/25/1953

Comprehensive Gluten/Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel

Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 38 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 20 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 26 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-soy IgA 20 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 15 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

While all of the foods tested can be immune-stimulating, the hierarchy of reactions detected were as follows:
Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity: Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+): Food to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (2+): Food to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (3+):
Pork
Walnut
Cashew
Corn
Chicken
Beef
Tuna
Almond
White potato
Oat
Rice
None


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: Beef
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Tuna

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most 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.



TEST INTERPRETATION(S):

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA: The level of intestinal anti-gliadin IgA antibody was elevated, indicative of active dietary gluten sensitivity. For optimal health; resolution or improvement of gluten-induced syndromes (mainly falling into six categories abbreviated as NAAAGS – neuropsychiatric, autoimmune, asthma, abdominal, glandular deficiencies/hyperactivity or skin diseases); resolution of symptoms known to be associated with gluten sensitivity (such as abdominal symptoms - pain, cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea and/or constipation, chronic headaches, chronic sinus congestion, depression, arthritis, chronic skin problems/rashes, fibromyalgia, and/or chronic fatigue); and prevention of small intestinal damage and malnutrition, osteoporosis, and damage to other tissues (like nerves, brain, joints, muscles, thyroid, pancreas, other glands, skin, liver, spleen, among others), it is recommended that you follow a strict and permanent gluten free diet. As gluten sensitivity is a genetic syndrome, you may want to have your relatives screened as well.

For additional information on result interpretation, as well as educational information on the subject of gluten sensitivity, please see the "FAQ Result Interpretation," "FAQ Gluten/Food Sensitivity," and "Research & Education" links on our EnteroLab.com website.

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to food antigens greater than or equal to 10 Units are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic “sensitivity” to that food. It is recommended that for any elevated fecal antibody level to a highly antigenic food such as milk, that it be removed from your diet.

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to food antigens greater than or equal to 10 Units are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic “sensitivity” to that food. It is recommended that for any elevated fecal antibody level to a highly antigenic food such as egg, that it be removed from your diet.

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-soy IgA: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to food antigens greater than or equal to 10 Units are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic “sensitivity” to that food. It is recommended that for any elevated fecal antibody level to a highly antigenic food such as soy, that it be removed from your diet.

Interpretation of Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods: With respect to the mean value of the 11 foods tested, 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, milk, egg, 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 food 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) the immune reaction in relative terms 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 clinically insignificant (negative); if greater than or equal to 10 Units, they can be considered clinically significant (positive). 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 semi-quantitative terms between the foods tested (1+, 2+, or 3+). 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.

Dietary Recommendation Based on Test Results to Individual Foods:

This test panel was designed to guide your choices when building a new more healthful, less antigenic dietary plan. The results are delivered in such a way that you are not left with “nothing to eat,” but instead they should guide you in avoiding the foods to which the highest or most immunologic reaction was detected (and hence, are most stimulating to your immune system). We discourage dietary changes that involve removing too many foods at once. This can lead you to feel too hungry too often, especially if adequate healthful replacement foods are not readily available. Dietary elimination (beyond gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free) is best approached over a period of weeks to months and sometimes years, removing one or two additional foods at a time, rather than removing many foods at once.

If you reacted to more than one of the grains, meats, or nuts, we recommend that you first eliminate from your diet the one food from that class you reacted to most strongly, while keeping in your diet the ones you reacted to less strongly. When you want to try and eliminate additional foods, do so in the order of the strength of reaction from highest, intermediate, to least. In the case of potato, you may want to eliminate it if you reacted positively to it.

If you have an autoimmune or chronic inflammatory syndrome, or just want to pursue an optimally healthy diet and lifestyle, avoiding all grains, meats, and nightshades can optimize an anti-inflammatory diet (despite a negative result on food testing). As nuts and seeds are a very healthful source of vegetarian protein and heart-protective oils and minerals, rather than avoiding all nuts and seeds, you can render nuts and seeds less antigenic, more digestible, and more easily tolerated by choosing the few that you seem to best tolerate overall, soaking a one-day supply in a glass jar filled with clean water for 4-8 hours (or for ease, overnight), and pouring off the water and rinsing before eating. The resultant soaked nuts or seeds can be eaten as is (alone or with fresh or dried fruit), blended into nut butters (by adding some water), or added to “smoothies.”

For more information about result interpretation, please see http://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/FaqResult.aspx
To order a paid consultation with an EnteroLab professional call 972-686-6869
Stool analysis performed and/or supervised by: Frederick Ogunji, Ph.D., EnteroLab
Interpretation of all results by: Kenneth D. Fine, M.D., EnteroLab
Thank You For Allowing EnteroLab to Help You Attain Optimum Intestinal And Overall Health.

[tex]

Hi Diana,

As you can see by looking at your post (in the data for the 11 other antigenic foods), when data is entered in tabular form, bulletin board code rearranges (removes) the formatting to save space. As a result, I can't tell by looking at your post which foods ranked as no reaction, 1+, 2+, or 3+, respectively. So there's no way to interpret the data.

IOW, data cannot be entered as a table, because when most browsers interpret the BBCode, they will remove the formatting
and that scrambles (unformats) the data.

Regarding the unhappy tummy, most of us cannot tolerate citrus fruits while we are recovering. Tomato is a citrus fruit.

Tex

[dhouts]

Foods to which there was no immunological reaction: pork, walnut, cashew

1+ reaction: corn, chicken, beef, tuna, almond, white potato

2+ reaction: oat, rice

3+ reaction: none

I've also ordered the intestinal fat malabsorption stool test, result should be in 5-7 days.


Sorry about the previous posting, I should have edited it.

[hollyweb]

Tex, aren't tomatoes also a nightshade plant? That's my understanding, and if so, that's kind of like 2 potential issues for us mc'rs (and for Diana, who also showed a reaction to nightshades on her results).

Diana, isn't it a relief to find out for sure what your intestines are reacting to? I hope it gives you some peace of mind to know that you have no reaction to at least 3 foods!! That's 3 more than many of us!!

Hoping your tummy will be feeling better very soon. Everyone is different. I, too, cannot eat chicken, almonds, nightshades or rice.

~ Holly

[dhouts]

Holly!

Which 3 foods are you referring to?!

[tex]

Holly,

Yes, but nightshades are usually not a significant problem for most of us unless we also have an elevated rheumatoid factor.

Yes

[tex]

Diana,

With an overall score of only 15 on the 11 other antigenic foods, the only foods out of those 11 that you seriously need to minimize/avoid are oats and rice. The foods in the 1+ category may be OK on a rotational basis.

Pork, walnut, and cashew are safe.

Tex

[hollyweb]

Sorry, Diana, I may have misunderstood. When I read your results earlier this morning, I thought I saw that it read that you had no significant reaction to pork, walnut and cashew.

The reason I brought up the nightshade is what it said on your report regarding the white potato (says the same on mine, except for me potato is 3+):

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.

Again, I apologize if I've created concern or misinformation! I was just responding to your earlier post wondering if the tomato sauce could be causing you problems.

~ Holly

[hollyweb]

Looks like Tex and I were posting at the same time!!
~ Holly

[dhouts]

No problem, Holly. And to answer your question, it's a huge relief to get specific information and now I can tweak my diet to make my tummy happy. I'm so glad that I found this group; I would have never known about EnteroLab, the importance of magnesium, D3, and all of the other supplements, and the friendship and support of others who have this disease.

Onward to healing!