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I got my enterolab results about 10 days ago and thought I would comment on them.
First you can get better without testing but if I had to do it again I would have tested months earlier. I think I would have suffered less and healed faster. I was able to make it through the 8 week danger zone after getting off Entocort without having received test results. So you can "get better" without the tests but in the big picture I think the tests are helpful and give you an edge.
I went GF Oct 1. DF Jan 1 2012. Oct 1 egg free. Oct 1 ---I thought I was soy free.
My last day on Entocort was January 15. Two weeks after my last Entocort I had extreme dizziness to Rice, Quinoa and apple juice. I had previously experienced extreme dizziness to Corn pasta. The dizziness was of an alarming level so I stopped eating all grains January 15 and moved on to potatos and sweet potatos. I got the Enterlab testing because the extreme dizziness was frightening and I was in the post Entocort danger zone.
Some comments on the results:
Gluten and casein---no surprises here. (Other than the fact that I was in denial about eating cows milk yogurt until I gave it up Jan 1.)
Egg---this is kind of interesting. I've never "eaten eggs" unless they were in another food so my egg consumption has always been low. So, egg results are as expected, I would have been surprised if this was over 10.
Soy--I thought I was soy free on Oct 1. I just recently realized that the tuna I was eating had soy in it as well as the aerosol non stick spray I've been using. I grew up on Delmarva and the crops grown there are all soy beans and corn. I suspect there is a fair amount of cross contamination between these two items from trucking and warehouse contamination. It would not surprise me if I was getting soy when ingesting corn.
In regards to the "C" testing.
The C testing kind of confirmed the direction I was generally headed in in terms of food choices.
Potatos--I was already transitioning to less white and more sweet potatos. Pork and chicken---I've known I needed to add more of this to the mix.
To conclude: You can get better without the testing but I wish I had had it done sooner as I think I would have suffered less and healed faster. I suspect if testing is done early on the results can freak you out. As someone who did testing late in the game I was not really surprised by the results but was seeking any edge available to aid in healing and remission.
EnteroLab www.enterolab.com
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Specialized Laboratory Analysis for Optimum Intestinal and Overall Health
Kenneth D. Fine, M.D.
Medical Director
10875 Plano Rd., Suite 123 Dallas, Texas 75238
Final Laboratory Report
Date: 3/13/2012
A + C) Comprehensive Gluten/Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel
(Combines Panels A and C at a discounted price)
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 18 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 51 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 15 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 10 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-soy IgA 15 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: Walnut, White potato, Corn, Tuna
Food toward which you displayed intermediate reactivity: Oat, Rice, Beef, Pork
Food toward which you displayed least immunologic reactivity: Chicken, Cashew, 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: Corn
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Rice
Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Tuna
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Beef
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Pork
Meat toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Chicken
Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Walnut
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Cashew
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.
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 guide you in avoiding the foods in each group that 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 are experiencing symptoms possibly attributable to chronic immunological food sensitivity, such as chronic headaches, abdominal symptoms (pain, cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea and/or constipation), sinus congestion, arthritis, chronic skin problems/rashes, fibromyalgia, and/or chronic fatigue, it may benefit you to avoid the foods for which you are most reactive first, followed, if necessary by those to which you are intermediately and least reactive.
You can use the hierarchal results from each specific class of food, within which you reacted to multiple antigens, to make the wisest dietary decision when choosing which food(s) from that class to keep in your diet. Choose the food(s) to which you were least reactive (or in the case of potato, non-reactive).
Avoiding all grains, most antigenic meats (such as these), and nightshades is an important part of the most optimized anti-inflammatory diet.
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.”
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.
For more information about result interpretation, please see http://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/FaqResult.aspx
Stool analysis performed and/or supervised by: Frederick Ogunji, Ph.D., EnteroLab
Molecular Gene Analysis performed by: American Red Cross
Interpretation of all results by: Kenneth D. Fine, M.D., EnteroLab
enterolab results/ comments
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