Food Sensitivity Testing: What Tests Can and Can't Tell You (Ep 098)

Food sensitivity tests promise something incredibly appealing: send in a sample, receive a personalized list of reactive foods, and skip the uncertainty of elimination and reintroduction. But can these tests actually tell you which foods are causing your symptoms?

In this episode of the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast, Mickey Trescott takes a closer look at the science behind commercial food sensitivity testing, including IgG panels, MRT, ALCAT, and other commonly marketed approaches. She explains the important difference between a test being able to measure something in the body and that measurement actually being clinically useful.

Mickey also explores what it means for a diagnostic test to be properly validated, why major allergy organizations recommend against IgG food sensitivity testing, and why feeling better after following test results doesn’t necessarily prove that the test accurately identified your problem foods. Finally, she shares fascinating emerging research into food reactions that conventional testing may not yet capture—and explains why systematic elimination and reintroduction remain the most useful tools for building a personalized diet.

• What IgG food sensitivity tests actually measure—and why a positive result doesn’t necessarily indicate a harmful reaction
• How MRT, ALCAT, and other food sensitivity tests work and where the evidence falls short
• The difference between analytical validity, clinical validity, and clinical utility
• Why feeling better after following test results doesn’t necessarily prove the test accurately identified your problem foods
• Why elimination and systematic reintroduction remain the best way to identify individual food tolerance
• What emerging research may tell us about food reactions conventional testing doesn’t capture
• Why unnecessary food restriction can have nutritional, financial, and quality-of-life consequences
• How to think about past food sensitivity test results without dismissing your own experience

• Episode 54: A Deep Dive Into the AIP Reintroduction Process
• The Autoimmune Protocol: theautoimmuneprotocol.com
• Research on confocal laser endomicroscopy and food-related reactions in IBS (Study 1 and Study 2)

00:00 – Can food sensitivity tests really identify problem foods?

02:59 – IgG food sensitivity testing

07:16 – MRT, ALCAT, and other food sensitivity tests

12:31 – What does it mean for a test to be validated?

16:22 – But what if the test worked for me?

19:28 – Why elimination and reintroduction remain the gold standard

23:10 – Emerging research into food reactions we can’t yet test for

26:52 – Reframing food sensitivity testing

31:33 – Wrap-up and closing