Food sensitivity testing with Cyrex Labs

I use Cyrex Labs for food sensitivity testing because their tests are highly accurate, consistent, and based on the latest research and development. What’s more, they test for multiple forms of foods (raw, cooked, processed, and combined foods), versus outdated tests that test only one form of the food.

This is important because food proteins change when cooked or processed. A person might react to a food only when it’s cooked but not raw, or vice versa. Or they may react to a food only when it’s in combination with other foods.

The Cyrex food sensitivity testing helps identify foods that challenge your immune system so you can reduce the load on your immune system by minimizing exposure to those foods.

Make sure your immune system is healthy enough to warrant testing

While it may be tempting to dive into immune testing right away, you can save time and money by first making sure your immune system is healthy enough to produce antibodies in response to an antigen (antigens are any compound that provokes an immune response).

What if my results are almost all negative but I have symptoms? If your immune system is depleted from chronic overwork, it may not create enough antibodies to measure on a lab test. This can produce all or nearly all negative results — even though you clearly react to certain foods. This is frustrating for both patient and practitioner.

You can test for low immune function prior to your Cyrex test by ordering a total immunoglobulin test (IgG, IgA, and IgM). If these are low, shoring up your immune system using functional medicine strategies can help restore immune function. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet for this. It’s a comprehensive approach that must consider the stressors unique to your system.

It’s important to understand why you are reacting to almost everything you’re eating. The problem often isn’t the food but instead a hyper sensitive immune system.

In order to get to the root of your multiple food sensitivities, you must understand the concept of oral tolerance

What are “normal,” “equivocal,” and “out of range” results?

Many people ask about the difference between the results “normal,” “equivocal,” and “out of range” on Cyrex test results:

• “Normal” is within the accepted reference range.
• “Equivocal” is one standard deviation away from a normal result.
• “Out of range” is two points of deviation from normal.

But what does this mean for you? Although every treatment protocol depends on individual needs and responses, we consider any equivocal result to be clinically positive and worth addressing. “Out of range” also means that food is provoking an immune response.

Elevated antibody levels can be clinically significant — while the antibodies themselves don’t destroy anything, they do trigger an inflammatory response that can cause significant destruction of tissue and resulting symptoms. This response is not necessarily dependent on antibody levels. For instance, low antibody levels can mean symptoms are a slight nuisance in one person and debilitating in another.

However, an equivocal result may mean you are just beginning to exhibit an immune reaction, so this is an important time to take measures to support the body in damping immune reactivity.