How Accurate Are At-Home Food Allergy and Sensitivity Test Kits?
Key takeaways:
Food allergies and food sensitivities are often grouped together, but they’re different conditions that need different testing.
There are many at-home tests for both allergies and sensitivities, but most don’t have enough evidence to support their use.
Even with valid at-home tests, it’s helpful to review your results with a healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet.
A well-balanced diet with a wide variety of foods is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. But certain foods can cause bothersome symptoms in people with food sensitivities. And people with food allergies can have dangerous reactions. Testing for allergies and intolerances can be a helpful way to identify problematic foods.
Some tests require a visit with your healthcare provider. But there are also at-home kits you can use without a lab or a prescription. With so many options, it’s helpful to understand the different options out there and how to figure out if one is right for you.
Food allergy vs. food sensitivity
Food allergies are very common and affect about 11% of adults in the U.S. Food sensitivities are even more common. People often think food allergies and food sensitivities are the same thing, but these are actually very different conditions that need different tests for diagnosis.
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Food allergy
A food allergy is caused by an overreaction of the immune system. When this happens, the immune system mistakenly identifies a food as a threat and produces immunoglobulin E (IgE) to fight against that food. This IgE in your body will then recognize that food and cause an allergic reaction every time you eat it.
The allergic reaction may not be the same every time you’re exposed to that food, but the reaction will always come on quickly. Symptoms of a true food allergy usually appear within minutes to 1 hour after food exposure. These symptoms include:
Hives, a type of itchy rash
Swelling of the eyes, face, tongue, or throat
Stomach symptoms, like pain or vomiting
Breathing problems, like shortness of breath, chest tightness, or wheezing
Anaphylaxis, a potentially fatal reaction that progresses quickly and typically involves swelling of the tongue or throat, difficulty breathing, skin redness, and itching
Food sensitivity
A food sensitivity is not an allergy. It’s a reaction to certain foods, which can happen in conditions like gluten intolerance or lactose intolerance. Unlike food allergies, food sensitivities don’t involve the immune system or IgE. This means that symptoms of food sensitivity vary more. And the reaction can be delayed, occurring hours or days after you eat certain foods.
Examples of food sensitivity symptoms include:
Fatigue
Headaches or migraines
Digestive symptoms, like bloating, gas, abdominal pain, and diarrhea
Trouble thinking clearly, also known as “brain fog”
Generally, how you feel when you eat a food is the most important factor in determining if a certain food is causing a problem. But there is also sensitivity testing that can be done.
How to test for food allergies and sensitivities at home
There are a range of at-home testing options. Most of these are for food sensitivities, though some are for food allergies.
Home tests for food allergies
You can do immunoglobulin E (IgE) testing at home. This test includes a finger-prick kit so you can send in a small sample to a lab. This is a food allergy test that checks your IgE levels for a specific food. Home kits include:
Everlywell Food Allergy Test
7DROPS ALL Allergy Test (this is a combination food allergy and sensitivity test)
These tests can also be performed through your local lab with a blood draw. There are services that let you order your own lab test without a healthcare provider:
Walk-In Lab Food Allergy Tests
Home tests for food sensitivities
There are more home testing options for sensitivities than allergies. Food sensitivity tests include breath tests, genetic tests, and hair tests. They also include tests that measure a different type of immunoglobulin — immunoglobulin G (IgG).
Unfortunately, none of these tests have been proven to be accurate in diagnosing food sensitivities. So while we provide some examples here, it’s best to use caution before considering these testing options. We go into more detail about this below.
Breath tests
A breath test is an established test for lactose intolerance. This test involves breathing into a small device designed to check the hydrogen level in your breath. At-home kits include the Food Marble Breath Tester.
Genetic tests
There are also testing kits that collect saliva and cheek swabs to be analyzed for genetic testing. While this area of testing has potential, it’s still very experimental. More research is needed. Home DNA testing kits include:
DNAfit Diet Fit
EasyDNA Intolerance Testing
Hair tests
Hair testing is also available, but there’s no evidence to support its use. So experts don’t recommend it. Home hair testing kits include:
Complete Sensitivity Bioresonance Test Kit
5Strands Food Intolerance Test
Advanced Health Sensitivity Test
Immunoglobulin G tests
IgG testing is offered through a finger-prick kit. Home IgG kits include:
Everlywell Food Sensitivity Test
Yorktest Food Sensitivity Test
7DROPS ALL Allergy Test (this is a combination food allergy and sensitivity test)
The use of IgG testing is not widely recommended. Unlike IgE, it’s actually normal for your immune system to make IgG in response to foods that you eat. In fact, it’s normal for your IgG level to be higher for foods you eat more often. So testing results really don’t have much value.
Are food sensitivity and allergy tests accurate?
While at-home tests are more convenient than a visit to your provider, many of them will not provide valid or helpful results. And they’re expensive — the out-of-pocket cost can range from $100 to $250.
If a food allergy is your main concern, an at-home test checking your IgE level to that food can be a reasonable option. This would be the same test your healthcare provider would order.
You can feel confident about a negative test, but it’s important to know that false-positive results are fairly common. If you have a positive result, it is reasonable to avoid the food at least temporarily. You can then schedule a visit with an allergy specialist to develop a treatment plan.
If you’re more concerned about an underlying food sensitivity, at-home tests will be less helpful. Unfortunately, right now there’s no at-home test recommended for the diagnosis of food sensitivity.
It’s also important to consider what to do with your results once you have them. There are several possible outcomes to consider, for example:
Your test could be negative to a food that bothers you, in which case the results aren’t helpful.
Your test may be positive to a food you eat all the time without any problem, and it would be unnecessary to eliminate that food from your diet.
A better approach is to keep a food journal to track what you eat and the symptoms you experience after. This can reveal helpful patterns of symptoms and identify problematic foods.
Should you consult with an allergy specialist?
While it may feel less convenient, there are several benefits to consulting with an allergy expert, also known as an allergist. And it may save you time and money in the long run.
For food allergies, an allergist can help you gain a better understanding of your past reactions and offer an allergy skin test. This is a different type of testing and is the gold standard of allergy testing. They can also help guide you on how to best avoid that food in the future and provide a treatment plan in case of a severe allergic reaction.
For food sensitivities, a food journal may help you adjust your diet to avoid unwanted symptoms. But remember that this may lead to unnecessarily eliminating foods from your diet. This can be difficult if it’s a food you enjoy or a very common food, like gluten.
Talking with either an allergist or other healthcare provider can be helpful, since it’s always better to have a variety of foods in your diet — both for your nutrition and your quality of life. Your provider may also help discover if a health condition other than a food sensitivity might be causing your symptoms.
The bottom line
Food allergy and food sensitivity are different conditions. And the testing for these conditions is also different. At-home tests are available for both. But experts don’t generally recommend them, and they have several potential pitfalls.
More importantly, no test is as valuable as the symptoms you experience after eating a particular food. Consider talking to a specialist about your symptoms and concerns. They may be able to help improve your symptoms while maintaining a healthy diet with foods you enjoy.
Why trust our experts?
References
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. (n.d.). Testing & diagnosis.
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. (2020). Food intolerance versus food allergy.
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. (2020). The myth of IgG food panel testing.
Barrett, S. (2020). Why bioresonance hair testing is preposterous. Quakwatch.
Gupta, R. S., et al. (2019). Prevalence and severity of food allergies among US adults. JAMA.
Li, J., et al. (2017). Are genetic tests informative in predicting food allergy?Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Silberman, E. S., et al. (2019). Lactose intolerance. JAMA.
