How we test for allergies
Allergy IgE antibody test (35 items)
The Test My Intolerance 35 item allergy test is the most accurate home-to-lab test to date, but how does it work?
If you are unsure of what items are causing symptoms, the Select 35 test takes the most common 35 allergen items and using your blood sample, will give you a comprehensive report that you can follow to change your diet, and your life.
We test for allergy reactions using a raised IgE antibody with an approved in-vitro testing system. Your blood sample is exposed to a panel of food and non-food items. If a reaction is recorded, you have an allergy, and using IgE blood analysis, this is the most accurate testing available.
The response to a food is the cause of allergy symptoms. These reactions can be removed by your body into tissue or organs, which in turn leaves to discomfort, pain, and in some cases, damage. Understanding what your body reacts to is the key tobetter health and wellbeing.
Once ordered, we’ll send you a Select 35 Blood Kit which contains all the information and instructions needed to take your blood sample with a small lancet.
This virtually pain-free method will allow you to draw blood from your finger and return it to us in an envelope.
What will I receive?
Select 35 Blood Testing Kit
Allowing you to take a small blood sample and return to us in an envelope.
Screening results reporting
A full report of your reaction levels will be sent to you in an easy-to-understand traffic light system which you can take to a medical practitioner.
Free qualified consultative advice
Nutrition support by email free of charge.
Support and assistance
Our customer service team are here for you 24 hours a day.
Your comprehensive allergy report
Once we receive your sample through the post, our expert lab technicians will extract the plasma from the blood by using a centrifuge in our on-site accredited lab (ISO 9001).
You’ll receive your results within 3 –5 working days which will include:
- A full breakdown of the screen with explanations.
- An easy-to-follow traffic light system.
- What happens next? We help you reduce the impact of allergy triggers and symptoms.
Allergy testing is important as it stops life-threatening symptoms from presenting themselves. This is because you are able to avoid certain foods thanks to an allergy test, resulting in you being able to alleviate your symptoms.
Testing for allergies
The allergy test is an immunoassay that determines the levels of antibody reactivity against specific allergens. Our tests are able to determine levels of antibodies against specific allergens. Using a test blotting procedure and a 2-spot blood card, the test is very similar to ELISA offered by market leaders.
Western Blotting procedures are a commonly used diagnostic tools, providing analytics to many areas of health care and immunology, as these can help a customer in the diagnosis of medical conditions.
We can measure a specific antibody response with a client’s sample, and a panel of specific allergens derived from foods or other triggers (such as pollen or epithelium cells). Additionally, to complete the testing and ensure the process is complete, our lab technicians require conjugate, wash solution and substrate.
All of our customers and clients’ blood samples are unique, but our testing panels are produced in an identical way, meaning they adhere to forms of quality control and compliance. Your blood samples are in safe hands with Test My Intolerance.
The first stage of the IgE immunoassay will be to apply a quantity of patient sample to the testing panel. If there are any specific antibodies present in the sample, specifically relating to those on the panel, they will bind. Every panel also has three control values that will always react the same way with known values.
Next up, the panel will require to be washed with the wash solution, this is designed to remove all unbound sample from the panel and prevent non-specific binding to the panel, whilst also not being too abrasive to remove bound allergens and antibodies.
Next the specific conjugate is used. A conjugate has been devised to react to IgE antibodies. So, if there have been any reactions to the allergens on the panel, the conjugate will then bind to the complex of antibodies and allergen. If this happens the complex will be marked by the presence of the conjugate binding. This will be left to react for a period of time.
The next step is to use the wash solution again to remove unbound conjugate. A substrates job is to make this reaction complex visible for analysis. There are many ways to do this. We use a colorimetric method, which means we apply a numeric value to the shade of a colour. When we apply the substrate to the panel, if there has been a reaction between a conjugate and an allergen/antibody complex the position on the testing panel will be visibly coloured. If there has been no reaction the substrate won’t react, and the position will remain clear. The three control areas of the panel will always react in the same manner. These controls correlate to three known values of increasing reactivity.
This is just a basic overview of the blood allergy testing process and the way it works at Test My Intolerance. However, should you want to know a little bit more about blood spot allergy testing, our 24-hour support team are happy to help with any queries which you may have.
Supporting allergy testing research papers:
Intolerance & sensitivity tests
Sensitivity and Intolerance tests from your home-to-lab. Simply send us a hair sample and we do the rest. Available in individual, couples or family test to save you more! Discover which test is for you?
Allergy tests
Raise IgE antibody analysis using blood-spot technology. Which allergy test is for you?
What happens after I receive my results?
Once you have received your report, the first step is to try eliminating the suggested catalysts from your diet.
We provide FREE support on:
Embarking and gaining progress on an elimination diet