Category Archives: Food Sensitivities

Got Food Sensitivities?

Food sensitivity may be an overlooked source of inflammation leading to fatigue, sleep disturbance, acne, mood disorders, autoimmune disorders, gastrointestinal complaints, and other chronic conditions.

The foods we love to eat can be the triggers of inflammation, making the cause of disease hard to identify. If you have a chronic condition, identifying the food(s) contributing to your chronic illness may help provide an answer you’ve been looking for. Additionally, identifying these foods early in life may also reduce the onset of chronic disease. Some diseases or medications cause disruption in the gastrointestinal lining, triggering an inflammatory process that precipitates the formation of food sensitivities, leading to more inflammation. Identifying triggering foods may reduce the need for further medications.

Dr. Rodgers utilizes two methods for identifying food sensitivities. Each has strengths and weaknesses.

Elimination-Challenge Diet

  • Strengths: This method is low cost and usually provides some answers in a week. A laboratory test is not needed to tell you if a food is a problem or not. This is considered the gold standard for determining food sensitivities.
  • Weakness: Changing one’s diet is not easy. It takes at least 6 weeks to determine which foods, if any, are causing an inflammatory response. Not all foods are eliminated and thus, some inflammatory triggers may be unidentified.

Immunoglobulin Testing

  • Strengths: Numerous foods can be tested and evaluated with a simple blood draw. Depending on severity of disease, several different markers can be used. The Elimination-Challenge process can be used to verify results.
  • Weakness. These tests can be expensive and not recognized by insurance companies. These tests are not valid for chronic steroid users (ie, for asthma or autoimmune conditions. etc.)

For many patients, identifying and removing food-based inflammation starts their healing process. It is always amazing to watch an inflammatory issue resolve with the removal of one or two foods from the diet.

A caveat. Identifying food sensitivities is what coined my motto for the challenges of lifestyle modification: Simple, Not Easy. It is a simple process to remove a food: Don’t buy it or eat it. However, It is not always an easy to let go of a beloved food. Regardless of how easy it is for each patient, great benefits await those who decide to take the plunge and figure it out.

Please contact Dr. Rodgers at Idaho Naturopathic Medicine if you want to determine if food sensitivities contribute to your inflammatory condition. Phone: 208-275-0007.

Read an article from Chris D. Meletis, N.D, a consultant to US Biotek, describing his experience using different types of IgG, IgG4, and IgA testing. Click HERE for article.