Food Detective measures IgG antibodies which may be linked to inflammatory conditions in the body, manifesting in a range of health issues.
Food Detective testing involves taking a small blood sample(a few big drops) from your finger using a finger prick and sending it off to the clinic. Mary will send you full instructions on how to take the simple finger prick blood sample and how to return sample and results will be sent to you approx 10 days after submitting sample.
Reference to the food layout plan allows the foods causing antibody production to be identified. Once identified, the trigger foods may be eliminated from your diet.
Food Detective™
Has been designed for use by individuals and health practitioners. The test is safe and simple to use. It is the quickest and most affordable test of it’s type in Ireland.
Food Detective™ Food List
Cereals
Corn, Durum Wheat, Gluten, Oats, Rice, Rye, Wheat.
Nuts & Beans
Almond, Brazil Nut, Cashew, Cocoa Bean, Peanut, Legume Mix (pea, lentil, haricot), Soya Bean, Walnut.
Meats
Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Pork.
Fish
Freshwater Fish Mix (salmon, trout), Shellfish Mix (shrimp, prawn, crab, lobster, mussel), Tuna, White Fish Mix (haddock, cod, plaice)
Vegetables
Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot, Celery, Cucumber, Leek, Peppers (red, green, yellow), Potato.
Fruits
Apple, Blackcurrant, Grapefruit, Melon Mix (cantaloupe, water melon), Olive, Orange & Lemon, Strawberry, Tomato
Other
Egg (whole), Cow’s Milk, Garlic, Ginger, Mushroom, Tea, Yeast
The Food Detective detects antibody levels against 46 common foods listed above.
If there are strongly positive results to any of the food groups in the test (or several moderate results), the simple act of substituting the foods can help transform health and well-being.
TESTIMONIALS
“I recently did a consultation with Mary for my 6 year old boy and myself. Mary has a lovely warm presence and instantly puts you at ease.
She was able to identify the intolerances s both of us had which was great as before this I was giving my little boy yeast and eggs and hadn’t realised he had an intolerance. Since then I’ve noticed he hasn’t been stuffed up in his head , which he would often get at night. She also gave me ideas for healthy snacks , school lunches and advise on fertility. She also gave me advice on supplements.
It was great to do this together as our diet has greatly improved as a family.
I would highly recommend Mary to do any family or couple consultations
Hazel & Ben– Galway
“I did the Food Detective test with Mary and eggs and wheat showed up for me so I stayed off them since and my energy overall health so improved – the test took out the guessing game for me as to what food I should cut out and Mary’s test was so simple to do plus Mary helped me choose alternatives for these foods so I would highly recommend this Food Detective test and Mary of course !!”
Ellie – mid 50’s Cork
“In February, my nutritionist Mary advised me to do this test as I was having a lot of bloating, loose stools and many more symptoms including IBS and I found it hard to lose weight so once foods were pinpointed and I worked out a diet with Mary and she helped me heal my gut, I lost 2 stone and bloating and all other symptoms vanished – my life has changed – Food Detective is a great test !!”
Lucy – mid 20’s Ballincollig
Producer: Cambridge Nutritional Sciences is a vital part of the Omega Diagnostics Group and was a pioneer in developing consistent ELISA testing methods for food IgG antibodies. The Omega Group has a number of diagnostic platforms that detect IgG against foods; they are the largest provider of these tests worldwide. They use the same sources of purified antigens to make all these tests and they also validate the tests using the same large panel of patient blood samples before they are cleared for sale. While there is some inevitable slight variation by season in the exact mix of proteins contained in fresh raw foods, the same extracts are used across all test platforms.
Method: The ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) method is the diagnostic industry standard for antigen-antibody based screening tests. It is the most relied-upon technology for immunological testing in hospitals worldwide, including for life-critical blood tests such as HIV.
Reproducibility of results: With the Food Detective, Cambridge Nutritional Sciences have produced the world’s only self-contained serum-antibody based food intolerance kit. Results with the Food Detective show a 95% correlation with results generated by laboratory testing.
Relevance of results: The gold-standard for demonstrating the value of a scientific intervention is the controlled double-blind clinical trial, This divides patients randomly into two groups. One group receives the real treatment; the other receives a sham intervention, To avoid bias, neither the patients nor the staff treating them are permitted to know which group they belong to. Unlike some tests purported to show food intolerances, food-IgG testing has been subjected to double-blind clinical trials, most notably in Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Migraines and Crohn’s Disease. These hospital-based studies and were conducted by specialists in the relevant fields – most commonly Neurologists or Gastroenterologists.
However, please note that there are things that IgG testing of this type will/can not tell you:
- It does not test for food allergy. While the conditions might seem similar they are medically quite distinct. And the distinction is important. Food Allergy is pretty much a yes/no diagnosis. Food Intolerance is not. With intolerances, you may be able to tolerate rationed (with gaps) exposure to the problem foods.
- It does not tell you exactly how strong your intolerance is. Although all food-IgG tests (used for food intolerance treatment) can give a quantitative figure in your report, you still have to carry out the 12-week Elimination Diet (based on your test results) followed by careful Re-Challenge to get a good feel for how strong your intolerances are.
- It will not be able to tell you if your symptoms are perhaps equally influenced by other factors such as high sugar consumption, endocrine stress such as shift work – or inadequate sleep. Or by respiratory allergies to dust mites or dog hairs. When you decide to change your diet, why not give yourself the best chance and also work on your other lifestyle challenges?
- It will not tell you why your immune system started to target harmless foods. IgG antibodies can be produced temporarily when you are exposed to a new food, as part of the acclimatization process. However, your immune system should quickly ‘decide’ that it faces no threat. We are not yet sure what tricks the body into producing more anti-food IgG antibodies – to the extent that they cause inflammation and symptoms. But we know the problem occurs much more in affluent countries. Professor Martie Truschnig at the Medical University of Graz in Austria has made a valuable contribution in examining food-IgG antibodies in obese adolescent children. She found they had higher amounts of these circulating IgG antibodies against foods and that the more they had the higher their levels of inflammation. While it may be tempting to view obesity as the cause, it is likely that it too is a symptom.