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Innovative healthcare & alternative remedies Allergies vs intolerances
With a growing number of people experiencing food allergies and intolerances (self-diagnosed or otherwise), Mattie Lacey-Davidson seeks out a nutritional expert to check herself out
O
ver the past 12 months, Google searches for intolerance testing labs are up 750% in the UK
alone, and hospital admissions in the UK for food allergies have increased by 500% since 1990. I’ve spent much of my adult
life musing over my own possible problems with food. I’m fine with milk, but heat it up for a latte or a bowl of porridge and I’ll soon be running to the toilet. Soy alternatives make my tummy hurt and too much chocolate will sometimes give me hives. Noticing all of this before the spike of available vegan milk, I trained myself to like black coffee. My chocolate induced hives, however, I chose to live with.
My curiosity sent me to nutrition
consultant Sana Khan, who is the founder of medical and aesthetic clinic Avicenna Wellbeing. I underwent some thorough blood and tissue testing under her care.
Khan’s is one of five clinics in the UK to offer nutrient and mineral status testing, using one of the latest diagnostic tools in the market she simply scans my hand in a few areas with a portable device
NUTRIENT AND MINERALS Khan’s is one of five clinics in the UK to offer nutrient and mineral status testing. Using one of the latest diagnostic tools in the market she simply scans my hand in a few areas with a portable device and the results are instant. While all within the average markers, she admits most of them could be higher. Te three that are just below average are magnesium (low levels can cause muscle aches), silica (important for skin, hair and nails) and zinc (important for the immune system and skin). She gives me some of her own supplements, Nourish by SK, as they’re rich in zinc and silica, and advises me to bathe with Epsom salts, which are high in magnesium and can be absorbed through the skin. Ultimately, she tells me that adding more green vegetables and some seeds into my diet will do the trick.
BLOOD TESTING Please excuse me if I seem boastful, but my blood results were excellent.
Khan did a thorough job and ran through a list of things that were all fine: thyroid, kidneys, liver, white blood cells, haemoglobin (which carries oxygen), platelets (which form clots), vitamin D, glucose and iron. My main interest was whether I
actually had any allergies. Tis is checked by testing Immunoglobulin E (IgE), the antibodies produced in reaction to an allergy. If these levels had been high, I’d have had been asked to keep a longer food diary and return for more tests at a later date, but according to my current diet, I’m not ingesting anything that’s causing problems. Despite my intrigue, Sana didn’t
test for intolerances — she simply saw no reason to after looking at the results from my blood. Tis is because the antibodies that might indicate an intolerance are present in the body for a whole host of reasons. Tey protect against bacterial and viral infections and, depending on the state of your immune system, your body could react to food with these antibodies differently on any given day, making the results inaccurate. Her avoidance is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which states it ‘couldn’t identify any evidence the tests worked’.
avicennawellbeing.com
6 OCTOBER 2019 • HEALTHCARE INNOVATIONS
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