Re: IGg vs IGe

August 20, 2001

I looked into this, and found the following article:

What I can surmise from this and other things I've heard, Great Smokies Lab

offers the test that provides the greatest consistency from test to test.

It isn't clear, though, what exactly IgG measures, except that your body has

a reaction to particular foods. In our case, our son tested VL on corn and

+3 on soy (among many other foods). We cut out soy, and it seemed

beneficial. Although corn came in very low, he seemed to get better when we

removed this as well.

My understanding is that IgE looks for a histamine reaction, which is how

" allergy " is defined. IgG measures the presence of " other " antibodies.

Both can be detected in blood samples, although most allergies seem to

prefer scratch tests for IgE.

I suspect that any claim that this provides a precise measure of " allergies "

is suspect. Rather, this gives an indication of what foods *might* cause a

" real " allergy down the road. The author of the article above makes the

most important point - if you really want to find out, do elimination and

challenge cycles.

Leif

> Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 10:48:01 -0700 (PDT)

>

> Subject: IGg vs IGe

>

> From what I have read and also what my DAN doctor

> confirms is that IGe is the marker for allergies on

> the skin and IGg is the marker from the gut. Most MDs

> have been taught that IGe is the only marker for

> allergies. I think that we are treading on new ground

> here so there is going to be differing opinions. The

> best way to tell what your child is allgeric to is

> watching for reactions. The blood test tests the IGg

> and the skin tests the IGe. That is why there are

> discrepancies between the tests. Twenty years ago I

> was told by my pediatrician that he drew his own blood

> and sent to to 5 different labs and each lab came back

> with different results! I would hope that the labs are

> better now.

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