ALCAT Test (Food Sensitivity Test)
Are Hidden Food Sensitivities Making You Sick?
Diet plays a critical role in preventing a wide range of degenerative diseases and premature aging. The immune system should react appropriately and protect against infection when introduced to harmful or infectious agents like viruses or bacteria. Unfortunately for some, exposure to common foods, chemicals or molds may trigger chronic activation of the immune system.
Food sensitivities/intolerances are believed to arise when certain, incompletely digested food particles enter your bloodstream and are treated as foreign substances. This results in your immune system producing tailor-made antibodies (IgG), which attack the food in question. Some researchers believe this inflammatory response in the body can increase certain symptoms. Food intolerance has been associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), bloating, tiredness, constipation, diarrhea, cramping, eczema, headaches and migraines.
Delayed food intolerances affect over 80% of the population while less than 5% of people actually have IgE food allergies. Skin tests, RAST,or IgE blood tests do not detect delayed food allergies. They only measure the release of histamine or the presence of allergen specific IgE molecules.
For over 20 years, the ALCAT (Antigen Leukocyte Cellular Antibody Test) has been a useful tool for managing a wide variety of conditions linked to chronic activation of the immune system. These conditions include:
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Digestive Disorders - Migraines
- Obesity
- Chronic Fatigue
- ADD
- Aching Joints
- Skin Disorders
- Arthritis, and more…
How it Works?
The ALCAT test was developed to measure personalized nutrition at the cellular level. It is a simple blood test that measures the body’s cellular response to challenges from a wide array of substances including foods, additives, colorings and chemicals. The individual’s cellular reactivity after exposure of the blood sample to the various test agents, versus its own baseline control, tells an individudal which substances may be causing a sensitivity-related response in the body. Following testing, a 4-day rotational diet is provided to the patient.
ALCAT Test Options
Pricing is only for the laboratoray test. Further coaching and the development of healing protocols are scheduled with Juanita as office visits. Please click here for pricing.
Comprehensive Wellness 1: $555.00
200 Food Panel
30 Food Additives/Colorings/Environmental Chemicals
20 Molds
Comprehensive Wellness 2: $525
200 Food Panel
30 Food Additives/Colorings/Enviromental Chemicals
Comprehensive Wellness 3: $480
150 Food Panel
30 Food Additives/Colorings/Environmental Chemicals
20 Molds
Platinum Plus: $725
237 Food Panel
50 Functional Foods and Medicinal Herbs Food
30 Food Additives/Colorings/Environmental Chemicals
20 Molds
20 Antibiotics/Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Platinum Comprehensive: $665
200 Food Panel
50 Functional Foods and Medicinal Herbs
20 Food Additives/Colorings
10 Environmental Chemicals
20 Molds
20 Antibiotics/Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Single Panels:
237 Foods - $535
200 Vegetarian Food panel - $480
50 Functional Foods & Medicinal Herbs $150/$75 if added to full price food panel
The Test Results and Rotational Diet
The ALCAT test results are presented in an easy to read and understand, color-coded format. They highlight each client’s incompatible foods and the level of each reaction (severe, moderate or mild). The ALCAT test results also clearly identify the foods which are non-reactive or “safe” foods by putting them in a green section of the results and organizing them by food groups. In addition to the results, each test also includes a customized 4-Day Rotational Diet.
Additional Information
How Hidden Food Sensitivities Make You Fat; by Mark Hyman MD, Huffington Post
Are Your Hidden Food Allergies Making You Fat?
Roger Deutsch, co-author of Your Hidden Food Allergies Are Making You Fat, is no stranger to allergies.
"I grew up in the Northeast, and I suffered very extensively from serious allergy problems," says Deutsch. "I asked my doctor what caused allergies, and she said, 'No one knows' - so I felt a bit discouraged and decided to set out on my own to try and figure out how to solve my own problems."
"It didn't take too long to figure out that food and nutrition have the most to do with everything regarding health, including allergy and sensitivity. I found drastic, phenomenal improvement in my own condition when I began to control my own diet."
Since 1986, Deutsch has been working on the development of the ALCAT test, a simple blood test that measures food sensitivities. Deutsch is the founder of Cell Science Systems, the only company in the world that offers ALCAT testing. The ALCAT test is the only proven laboratory method for finding out which foods may be causing allergies, weight gain, water retention, skin problems, fatigue, arthritis, and various other problems.
Food Sensitivity vs. Food Allergy
A food sensitivity, also known as a food intolerance, delayed food allergy, or hidden food allergy, is not the same thing as a true food allergy.
"They involve different branches of the immune system," explains Deutsch.
A true food allergy causes a rapid, violent onset of symptoms. "It's meant to be that way," says Deutsch. "This is an evolutionary carryover from our defenses against parasites, so the body's reaction is to give it everything it's got... and when this occurs with food, it can actually be life-threatening."
"A food intolerance, on the other hand, is mediated by a different branch of the immune system," says Deutsch. "It's called the innate immune system as opposed to the specifc immune system, and it's the same branch of the immune system that works as a first line of defense against bacteria. The symptom onset is different. We actually see symptoms coming on a delayed and chronic basis and a more low-grade basis, so people may be reacting to a food that they're in contact with on a very regular basis but have no idea that it's the food causing their fatigue, or migraines, or chronic arthritis, or disturbance to their metabolism."
Since food allergies and food sensitivities involve different chemical pathways, they require different tests for detection. A standard allergy test cannot detect a food sensitivity.
That's where the ALCAT test comes in.
The ALCAT test has been awarded three US patents and is performed under careful control by only one U.S. Government certified laboratory. The ALCAT test has been proven to be accurate and reliable in scientific studies with an 83.4% correlation with a double-blind oral challenge (and a 96% correlation for food additives and colorings), the gold standard in food sensitivity testing.
"The ALCAT test is a medical breakthrough for the 21st century," says Deutsch.
How the ALCAT Test Works
"A small quantity of blood is exposed to each of the different foods," explains Deutsch.
The ALCAT test measures reactions of immune cells in the blood and generates sensitivity scores by relating effective volumetric changes in white blood cells to a control curve.
"Typcially, the white blood cells can actually be seen to be releasing mediators which are intended to neutralize or destroy the food," says Deutsch. "They're mistaking the food for a bacteria or virus that is potentially damaging. You can actually see, if you were to look under a microscope, these chemicals being released from the cell."
"It's only the cell itself which produces the mediators of inflammation and free radicals that cause damage to tissues, to DNA, to other cell membranes, and so forth, and if that doesn't happen, then we're not going to have any problems. And conversely, if it does, we're going to have the generation of toxic mediators that block glucose uptake."
Inflammation: Purveyor of Chronic Disease
Chronic inflammation damages tissues and can lead to chronic diseases like allergies, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease.
"Obviously, you can have inflammation recurring in different parts of the body," says Deutsch. "You can have asthma and other respiratory problems; you can have perennial rhinitis; you can have skin problems. Certainly gastrointestinal problems are extremely common."
"When the immune system is kicked up, it can also interfere with endocrinology," points out Deutsch.
Deutsch cites a clinician in Denmark who helped several previously infertile women become pregnant by simply altering their diets using the ALCAT test results - "because the immune system is no longer in a chronic state of activation and suppressing the hormones required for pregnancy."
"If you put the wrong food into the body, you can disrupt any real metabolic and physiological function and produce inflammation in any part of the body, and chronic inflammation is degenerative. It's harmful to tissue," stresses Deutsch.
"There's a preponderence of people with inflammatory diseases. There's an upswing in number of couples unable to conceive. People are complaing about fatigue more often. There's more concern about children's behavioral patterns and learning capabilties which are impaired. For example, color additives in foods can inhibit important enzymes which break down toxins in the gut, and if they're not broken down, they become neurotoxins."
The ALCAT Test Diet Plan
The scientific research is clear: adverse reactions to common foods prevent efficient fat-burning. In a study from Baylor Medical College, 98% of the subjects following an eating plan avoiding their own trigger food, as determined by the ALCAT test, decreased scale weight and/or improved their muscle to fat ratio. They also experienced improvement in skin, more energy, elimination of migraines, reduced sugar cravings, better mood and sleep, and other benefits. The ALCAT test diet plan is compatible with any other diet program.
ALCAT Testimonials
"For eight years I have used the ALCAT test in my practice. No other test is as accurate or useful." - Fred Pescatore, MD, author of The Hamptons Diet
"I've seen the (ALCAT) technique work when absolutely no other approach has made the scale budge." - Steven Lamm, MD, author of Thinner at Last
"I have been tested and have been following the rotation diet sent to me for about two weeks. After only three days, the residual inflammation in my hands disappeared. I discontinued my arthritis medication, and the pain free condition continues. What a great relief that is! To say I am impressed would be totally inadequate." - Kathyrn Noble, MD
"Within just four weeks of taking the test and following the food plan, I lost 5 kilograms (11 pounds), my stuffy nose and throat problem has completely cleared up, and I now have tremendously more strength during training." - Christian Mayer, World Champion Skier
"After the ALCAT test I have probably 5% more strength and where I would take a rest after workouts in the afternoon, I can carry straight through the day with no need or desire to stop for a break. To think that a mundane and harmless food like black pepper could be causing my problems is incredible... but it works! I recommend it to anyone looking for that edge on the competition and for health generally." - Dave Gauder, holder of 22 Guinness World Record Strength Records
"I have been using the ALCAT test consistently for weight loss, chronic fatigue, depression, arthritis, candidiasis and a host of other diseases and find it an invaluable tool." - Dr. John Salerno, Medical Director at Cell Science Systems.