I can't precisely define an alternative or complementary medicine laboratory but I tend to define it as a laboratory that supports components of alternative or complementary medicine. I was browsing the web recently and came across a list of "alternative laboratory" sites (link here) and have copied the list below, eliminating the DAT sites and also those that offer home test kits, which don't fall under my definition of an alternative medicine lab:
- Athena Diagnostics (link here)
- Body Balance (link here)
- Diagnos-Techs (link here)
- EnteroLab (link here)
- Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory (now called Genova Diagnostics; link here)
- The Great Plains Laboratory (link here)
- YorkTest (link here)
- ZRT Laboratory (link here)
I have an interest in these alternative medicine labs and the types of testing that they offer. In a previous note (link here), I discussed how BRLI, a mainstream reference lab, describes itself as providing services of this type. In the note, I also make reference to Genova, formerly Great Smokies Diagnostic Lab, which is the "mother" of all such labs. I plan to discuss some of the alternative labs listed above in an ongoing series of blog notes. I will begin this series with a brief discussion of YorkTest, which is located in the U.K.
Here, copied from the YorkTest home page, is a summary of the services that this lab offers:
...the core area of the business lies in food intolerance testing. The YORKTEST food intolerance tests require just a small pin-prick sample which we then analyse at our laboratories - from that we are able to give advice on what foods should be avoided and what can continue to be enjoyed....When the test has been completed, our customers are entitled to a telephone consultation with one of our qualified nutritionists.....
The 113 foodSCAN Test is priced at £250.00 (link here) and the 42 foodSCAN, suitable for children and those on a limited diet, is priced at £125.00. The scientific basis for these test panels is the presence of IgG in the serum directed against various foods tested, as noted in the following explanation from their web site (link here):
Raised levels of IgG antibodies within your blood indicate food intolerance. If you have already taken the decision to eliminate a particular food and have not been eating that food for over a month, it may not show up on your results – even if you are intolerant to it. This is because the level of IgG within your blood will have reduced because of the elimination.
Here is a link to an article on the web entitled IgG Food Allergy Testing by ELISA/EIA; What Do They Really Tell Us? that questions the validity of such assays.
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