The ALCAT Intolerance Test (Food Additives/Chemicals, Environmental Chemicals, Antibiotics/Anti-inflammatories)
Overview
The ALCAT Intolerance Test is the most comprehensive personalised intolerance test available, designed to measure personalised nutrition at the cellular level. The core technology is a blood test that measures the body’s cellular response to a wide array of substances, including various foods, additives, colourings, chemicals, functional foods, and medicinal herbs. This ALCAT test includes testing for the following intolerances:
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20 food additives/chemicals
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10 environmental chemicals
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20 antibiotics and anti-inflammatories
What is the ALCAT Test?
The ALCAT test is a simple blood test that identifies foods and other factors that induce activation of the innate immune system. It measures changes in the size and volume of white blood cells in response to ex vivo challenges with foods, chemicals, and other environmental stimuli. Importantly, the ALCAT test is not an allergy or IgE test but is considered the most effective and comprehensive sensitivity/intolerance test available.
Advantages of the ALCAT Test
The ALCAT test identifies specific foods that trigger an inflammatory cascade. This identification aligns with the thesis that gut health is crucial for managing chronic inflammatory states. The majority of chronic inflammatory or autoimmune conditions can often be traced back to delayed food hypersensitivity via impaired intestinal permeability, commonly referred to as ‘leaky gut’.
The ALCAT test method, utilised successfully for over twenty years for food intolerance, also holds promise as an integrated functional assessment tool for specific micronutrient deficiencies. Numerous health problems, such as migraines, joint pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, eczema, hyperactivity/ADD, asthma, and obesity, have been linked to food sensitivity and chronic inflammation. Studies have shown that overweight individuals who eliminate foods suspected of activating innate immunity, based on ALCAT test results, experience significant improvements in body composition and weight.
About The ALCAT Intolerance Test (Food Additives/Chemicals, Environmental Chemicals, Antibiotics/Anti-inflammatories)
After purchasing the ALCAT Intolerance Test, you will receive a simple blood test kit in the mail. The kit includes:
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A blood spot test kit for you to provide your blood sample
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Complete instructions for taking the test
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A free express post return envelope to send back your sample
Test results are sent to one of our professional health practitioners within 7 business days for evaluation. Our practitioners will contact you with the results and recommendations via email, mail, or phone.
How The ALCAT Test Works
The basic principle of the ALCAT test is measuring changes in white-cell diameter after exposure to foods, moulds, food additives, environmental chemicals, dyes, and pharmacoactive agents. The system has proven to be highly reproducible and sensitive, with impressive clinical outcomes. Analysis of whole blood offers a significant advantage as it contains all immune factors, cellular elements, and serum proteins involved in adverse reactions, regardless of the underlying biological mechanism.
Once test results are available, you will have a clear picture of your personal intolerances, providing a roadmap to improve your health from day one.
What's Included in the ALCAT Intolerance Test (Food Additives/Chemicals, Environmental Chemicals, Antibiotics/Anti-inflammatories)?
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20 Food Additives:
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Aspartame (951), Benzoic acid (210), BHA (320), BHT (321), Blue 1 (132), Blue 2 (133), Erythritol (968), Green 3 (143), MSG (621), Polysorbate 80 (433), Potassium nitrite (249), Red 1, Red 40 (129), Saccharine (954), Sodium sulphite (221), Sorbic acid (200), Sucralose (955), Xylitol (967), Yellow 5 (Tartrazine 102), Yellow 6 (110).
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10 Environmental Chemicals:
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Ammonium chloride, Benzene, Chlorine, Glyphosate, Fluoride, Formaldehyde, Deltamethrin, Orris root, Phenol, Toluene.
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20 Antibiotics/Anti-inflammatories:
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Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Acetaminophen, Naproxen, Cephalosporin C, Gentamicin, Aspirin, Clinorol, Neomycin, Nystatin, Diflunisal, Ibuprofen, Penicillin, Streptomycin, Penicillamine, Piroxicam, Sulfamethoxazole, Tetracycline, Indocin, Voltaren.
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Intolerance, Sensitivities, and Inflammation
Inflammation of the gut impairs nutrient absorption, and food allergies and intolerances are major causes of inflamed gut syndromes. Chronic inflammation, often resulting from abnormal triggers, can damage normal tissues. Food intolerance provokes immune-mediated vasculitis (inflammation), causing fluid to leak from capillaries into surrounding connective tissues, leading to water retention. For example, with ‘leaky gut’:
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Increased permeability of the stomach and intestinal lining allows large undigested food molecules to enter the bloodstream.
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The immune system sees these food molecules as foreign invaders and mounts a cellular response, sending white cells to destroy undigested food proteins lodged in vascular tissue.
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This response not only destroys food molecules but also surrounding tissue.
This process, your body’s inflammatory response, diverts energy to neutralising toxins, resulting in a slowed metabolism. Food sensitivity or intolerance can alter biochemical balance, influencing appetite-controlling hormones like serotonin, leading to abnormal cravings for simple sugars and carbohydrates. This disrupts metabolism, reducing energy production efficiency and increasing fat storage. Dietary lectins, resistant to degradation through cooking and digestion, occur in many vegetables, fruits, grains, and some meats. Some lectins can bind to receptors on mast cells, triggering histamine release similar to classical allergic reactions. This activity is not blood type-specific, and there is no convincing scientific evidence linking blood type to specific food-induced pathologies. Other immune conditions have also been associated with food intolerances.
The ALCAT Intolerance Test offers a major advantage in understanding what your body needs to heal itself, providing a clear roadmap to restore good health.