Summary.
Mainstream allergy
diagnosis and
treatment is based
on classical allergy
testing which
involves
wellvalidated
diagnostic methods
and proven methods
of treatment. By
contrast, a number
of unproven tests
have been proposed
for evaluating
allergic patients
including cytotoxic
food testing, ALCAT
test, bioresonance,
electrodermal
testing (electroacupuncture),
reflexology, applied
kinesiology a.o.
There is little or
no scientific
rationale for these
methods.
Results are not
reproducible when
subject to rigorous
testing and do not
correlate with
clinical evidence of
allergy.
Although some papers
suggest a possible
pathogenetic role of
IgG, IgG4 antibody,
no correlation was
found between the
outcome of DBPCFC
and the levels of
either food-specific
IgG or IgG4, nor was
any difference seen
between patients and
controls. The levels
of these and other
food-specific
immunoglobulins of
non-IgE isotype
reflect the intake
of food in the
individual and may
thus be a normal and
harmless finding.
The so-called Food
Allergy Profile
with simultaneous
IgE and IgG
determination
against more than
100 foodstuffs is
neither economical
nor useful for
diagnosis. DBPCFC
must be the
reference standard
for food
hypersensitivity and
any new test must be
validated by it. As
a result, all these
unproven techniques
may lead to
misleading advice or
treatments, and
their use is not
advised.
Key words:
allergy diagnosis,
unproven methods,
applied kinesiology,
electroacupunture,
bioresonance,
cytotoxic testing,
ALCAT test, food
allergy profile,
food-specific IgG. |