I think there may be grounds for a complaint to The Charity Commission about Allergy UK’s behaviour and governance.

Thanks

Just thought I’d throw this in – I’ve just had one of these tests which said I’m intolerant to yeast, wheat, cow’s milk and soya – so I thought I was screwed, but if all its saying is that this is the food I’ve eaten then blimey I’m glad to have come across this site, pity it wasn’t before the dietician recommended the test!
Just to say though, the reason I visited the dietician is that my GP basically said that it was all in my mind when I asked for help on what I believe to be food intolerance symptoms. I had experimented with cutting out diary, which seems to make me itchy and give me bowel problems but wanted a second opinion/test to confirm.
Just wonder where I should turn now….

No, nice to see that some people are honest enough to admit when they were wrong.

Re. the previous discussion on the doctors and “Alt tests”, I probably over-stated the extent to which the docs lets the stuff go. There are certainly a fair number who are unequivocal about telling the patients when they think something is nonsense. Of course, there is some evidence that once the patient knows the doctor feels that way, they just carry on and don’t tell the doctor.

On the whole, medics are pragmatists, and tend to worry more about Alt.Therapies that (i) carry potential for damage; or (ii) cost a load of dosh. If patients are absolutely determined to try aromatherapy or homeopathy, and even explaining the lack of evidence doesn’t dissuade them, Mrs Dr Aust usually tells them that one of our local should-be-ashamed Universities runs a “student complementary medicine clinic” where you can see a student training as a therapist for about a tenner. That way, Mrs Dr Aust reasons, the patient at least won’t get fleeced.

Hundreds of ££ for nonsense food intolerance tests, of course, would be a different kettle of fish.

It is also another of those “err.. consider that the experts might perhaps know more than you?” issues.

Climate Progress comments on the retraction of a mistaken interpretation of data by a climate change dissenter.

Unless you are a denier, you may not be surprised to learn the amateur denier was wrong and the country’s leading cryosphere scientists were right. But you might be surprised that Goddard issued an unequivocal retraction…

I thought that you might appreciate that, Dr Aust – it does happen.

So, when it comes to food intolerance, the NHS is not meeting a very large need and simultaneously may be spending a huge amount of money on unsuccessful strategies to meet that need.

would not bang on about “you’re wasting your money and this is pure quackery designed to take advantage of you” if the patient were determined to try it.

I understand that attitude but…if patients can’t rely on their GPs or Practice Nurses to tell them when they might be pursuing a diet that is unworkable in the long-term or will tie them into a dependence on supplements or regular testing and re-testing, then where are patients supposed to obtain that advice? This scenario is bad enough if it only involves autonomous adults, but FFTB and others encourage parents to use these tests for children. afaik, YorkTest does not have a specialised paediatric dietitian on tap.

For a lot of clinicians, I think the key argument is less around “what things patients might do off their own bat as part of trying to get to grips with their problem”, and far more around “what the NHS would / should endorse and make available” – the latter being things that should be borne out by the best available evidence.

As you say, if AUK really start lobbying hard for the IgG tests on the NHS, I suspect that would probably be a line-in-the-sand moment for a lot of the doctors.

Another line a lot of them draw is “I will not lie to the patients”. Thus many would tell a patient “there is no scientific evidence to back up the IgG test”, but would not bang on about “you’re wasting your money and this is pure quackery designed to take advantage of you” if the patient were determined to try it.