I finally did Enterolab testing

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:15 pm

The results are as follows and I am SO GRATEFUL that dairy and eggs shouldn't be a problem. I can't imagine how I'm going to avoid soy since it seems to be in almost everything these days. I should have stayed on the Paleo diet the first time.

A) Gluten Sensitivity Stool and Gene Panel Complete *Best test/best value
Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 11 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Fecal Anti-tissue Transglutaminase IgA 8 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Quantitative Microscopic Fecal Fat Score <300 Units (Normal Range <300 Units)

Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 6 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 1 0202

HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 2 0301

Serologic equivalent: HLA-DQ 2,3 (Subtype 2,7)

C) Egg, Yeast, and Soy Food Sensitivity Stool Panel
Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 7 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Fecal Anti-saccharomyces cerevisiae (dietary yeast) IgA 7 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Fecal Anti-soy IgA 11 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Post by **tex** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:44 pm

Shirley,

Your numbers are barely in the positive range, so hopefully that means that you are not quite as sensitive to gluten and soy as some of us are.

Thanks for posting the information.

Love,
Tex

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:45 pm

Shirley,

Well, look at you, girl! Way to go! So it's gluten and soy. As a major MI, I am very envious of your results. LOL! But I know it's not easy to eliminate anything. Had you been avoiding gluten prior to the test?

I have a hunch that you will do just fine on the paleo diet, if that's the route you choose to go. You have always followed paleo discussions with great interest and an open mind, and I think you know quite a bit about it.
Please visit the cavepeople whenever you want! We love company, small group that we are.

Love,

Polly

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:24 pm

Shirley,
How great you took the big step. And I must say it is a big step. I can remember wating for my results and then being amazed when things changed . As Polly said “ Join us in the cave “ So many have found that is a pretty comfortable place. With Lots and lots of room for improvisation . And not as damp and chilly as one might expect.

And lots of wonderful food.

I enjoy it more than my old SAD diet. Keep in mind that the diet is really a life style that will transform your style of life. Have fun transforming yourself! Many of us have done just so and enjoy every moment of it.

Love

Matthew

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:45 am

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm not quite ready to jump in with both feet today but I plan to adapt a modified paleo in the future and I'll certainly cut down on the amount of gluten I'm ingesting starting now. I am also hoping soy will "fall out of favor" as an ingredient in almost everything made today. HaHa Not much chance I think. In the meantime, I have a lot of Asacol on hand to help bridge the gap..... I know...... not the best mind set.

Love, Shirley

faithberry · Post by **faithberry** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:57 am

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for sharing your results! Good luck!

Tex wrote:

Your numbers are barely in the positive range, so hopefully that means that you are not quite as sensitive to gluten and soy as some of us are.

I would love it if that were the case as my casein level is very low. I read though, on the Enterolab site, that the numerical value does not correspond to clinical severity. Am I misunderstanding something?

However, the amount of antibody present is not a measure of clinical severity, but rather, the amount of antibody being produced by the plasma cells in the intestine in response to gluten at that site. A positive value of any degree means your immune system is reacting to dietary gluten in the way the immune system reacts to an infection. With an infection, this immune reaction ultimately kills and clears the infectious organism. But with gluten, the reaction continues as long as it is eaten. Thus, the only way to halt this immune reaction is to remove all gluten from the diet. This is true whether your positive test is 10 units, 350 units, or anything in between.

Are the numeric values of antigliadin antibody a measure of severity?
As mentioned above, the numeric value of antibody is not necessarily a measure of severity of how your body is reacting to gluten, or the resultant damage of the reaction. This is because the main perpetrator of the immune response to gluten is not antibody but T lymphocytes (T cells) producing tissue-damaging chemicals called cytokines and chemokines. How much antibody is produced at the stimulus of T cells differs in different people. Furthermore, some people simply do not or cannot make alot of intestinal IgA antibody even though gluten may be stimulating a severe T cell-mediated immune response. Unlike antibody levels, the numeric value of malabsorption test results are an indicator of severity of intestinal damage (see below).

Post by **tex** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:51 am

Faith,

I believe that both of those quotes are correct. What I am suggesting is that lower positive test result values are an indication of lower sensitivity, (not necessarily lower severity, which is what Dr. Fine was referring to). IOW, lower test values might be connected with lower thresholds for triggering a reaction. I'm simply saying that Shirley might be able to tolerate slightly larger trace amounts of those intolerances in her daily diet, before a reaction is triggered. We all know that everyone has a threshold for the amount of gluten required to trigger a reaction, and everyone's threshold is different, (the distribution follows the famous Bell curve). I'm simply saying that her threshold is probably somewhat higher than the threshold for most of us here.

True, she might be IgA deficient, and that could be the reason for her relatively low TT IgA result, but if that were the case, considering how many years have elapsed since she was diagnosed, (and eating gluten), she should show a relatively high fecal fat score. Her score is entirely normal.

Anyway, that's why her overall results suggest to me that she has a higher threshold for reactions. Some days, she may not be ingesting enough gluten to trigger a response. (I'm not saying that's the case, I'm just saying that it could be a possibility). Allergies/intolerances are not entirely a black and white issue - they definitely have a gray area. At least, that's the way I see it - that's strictly my opinion, of course.

Tex

faithberry · Post by **faithberry** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:37 pm

Makes sense now!