Food Intolerance Testing Maidstone: Find Your Gut Triggers

The Thing Nobody Tells You About Feeling Terrible

I had a patient last month. Let's call her Helen. She sat in my consultation room and said something I hear at least twice a week: "I just don't feel right, and nobody can tell me why."

Helen was 42. Healthy weight. Exercised three times a week. Ate what she thought was a balanced diet. But every afternoon around 3pm, she'd crash so hard she could barely keep her eyes open. Her stomach bloated after nearly every meal. Her skin looked inflamed despite an excellent skincare routine. Her joints ached.

She'd been to her GP. Blood tests came back normal. "Maybe it's stress," they said. "Perhaps IBS."

Here's what six years as a cardiac nurse at KIMS Hospital taught me. Chronic inflammation doesn't play by the rules. It doesn't stay in one system. The low-grade inflammation I saw affecting my cardiac patients' hearts was showing up in their digestion, their skin, their energy levels, their joints.

And often, it was connected to what they ate every single day.

This is why we offer food intolerance testing at Juvenology. Not because it's trendy. Because after hundreds of consultations, I've seen what happens when people finally identify the foods their bodies are fighting against.

Let me walk you through what this actually involves, what it can (and can't) tell you, and whether it might help you feel like yourself again.

Food Allergies vs Food Intolerances (They're Completely Different)

Right. Let's clear something up because this confuses everyone.

Food allergies are immediate and obvious. You eat peanuts, your throat swells, you can't breathe. This is IgE antibodies launching a full immune attack within minutes. It's dramatic. It's scary. It can be life-threatening. If this sounds like you, you need proper allergy testing with an allergist, not food intolerance testing.

Food intolerances are sneaky. They're IgG antibody responses that take hours or even days to show up. You eat wheat on Monday morning. Dairy at lunch Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon you're bloated, exhausted, and your skin's flaring. Which food was it?

You have absolutely no idea.

"The delay is what makes food intolerance so maddening. By the time you feel terrible, you've eaten twelve different meals. How do you even begin to figure out what's causing it?"

This is why people end up on ridiculously restrictive diets, cutting out everything just hoping something will help. I've seen patients arrive having eliminated 30 foods on their own, nutritionally deficient, frustrated, and still symptomatic.

There's a better way.

What Food Intolerance Actually Feels Like

The symptoms are all over the place. That's part of what makes this so confusing.

Your digestion is a disaster. Bloating that makes you look six months pregnant by evening. Gas that's frankly embarrassing. Constipation, diarrhea, or both alternating like some cruel joke. That IBS diagnosis that sort of fits but doesn't really explain everything.

Your skin won't settle. Eczema patches that come and go. Adult acne that no treatment touches. Rosacea flaring unpredictably. Just general inflammation that makes you look puffy and aged.

Your energy is gone. You crash every afternoon. Brain fog makes concentrating impossible. You're tired despite sleeping eight hours. Mornings are brutal.

Your body aches. Joints hurt for no reason. Muscles feel stiff. Headaches appear regularly. You just feel inflamed.

And the most frustrating part? All your blood tests come back normal.

How IgG Food Intolerance Testing Actually Works

Let me explain what we're measuring, because understanding this matters.

When you eat foods your body doesn't tolerate well, your immune system produces IgG antibodies against them. Not the dramatic IgE "throat closing" kind. The quieter IgG kind that creates chronic, low-grade inflammation.

We take a simple finger-prick blood sample. Send it to an ISO-accredited lab. They test it against 120+ common foods. Dairy, gluten-containing grains, eggs, soy, nuts, fish, shellfish, vegetables, fruits, additives. The lot.

The results shows which foods trigger strong IgG responses, moderate responses, or no respon

se at all.

Now here's where it gets interesting. And where I need to be completely honest with you.

A systematic review in PubMed on food reaction testing confirms that IgE-based testing remains the gold standard for true allergies, while IgG testing's clinical utility for intolerances continues to be researched.

The Controversy (Because I Won't Lie to You)

IgG food intolerance testing is controversial. The British Dietetic Association doesn't endorse it as a definitive diagnostic tool. Neither does the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Why? Because having IgG antibodies doesn't automatically mean you have a clinical intolerance. IgG production can be a normal response to foods you eat regularly. The science isn't conclusive about the direct link between IgG levels and symptoms.

So why do I offer this testing?

Because in clinical practice, it works for many people. Research commissioned by Allergy UK found 76% of over 5,000 people experienced symptom improvement following IgG-guided elimination diets.

I've seen it myself. Helen, the patient I mentioned? Strong IgG reactions to cow's dairy, wheat, and eggs. She eliminated them for six weeks. The transformation was remarkable. Bloating gone within a week. Energy stabilized within two. Skin calmed significantly by week four.

Here's how I see it. IgG testing isn't a definitive diagnosis. It's a starting point for a structured elimination diet. Instead of randomly cutting out foods and hoping for the best, we have data guiding which foods to eliminate first.

The gold standard is still elimination and reintroduction. Testing just tells us where to start looking.

That's honest. That's evidence-informed. And in my experience over five years in aesthetic and longevity medicine, that's what actually helps people.

Research commissioned by Allergy UK found 76% of over 5,000 people experienced symptom improvement following IgG-guided elimination diets.

What Happens at Juvenology (The Actual Process)

Home test kits will send you results via email with a generic information booklet. That's about it. Good luck figuring out what to do next.

We do things differently.

Before we even draw blood, we talk. Thirty minutes, just you and me. I want to understand your complete symptom picture. What you're eating now. Your medical history. What you've already tried. Your stress levels, sleep quality, digestive patterns. This context is crucial because it informs how we interpret your results.

Then we collect a finger-prick blood sample. Quick. Relatively painless. Off to the lab it goes for 10-14 days of analysis.

When your results come back, we spend an hour together. This is where my cardiac nursing background and five years in this field actually matter. I don't just hand you a list of 40 foods to avoid and send you on your way. We look at patterns. We prioritize. We create a realistic, phased elimination strategy that fits your actual life.

Some foods showing reactivity might be completely irrelevant to your symptoms. Others might be the key to everything. Clinical interpretation makes all the difference.

Then comes the support. Four-week follow-up consultation. Email and phone access throughout. Guidance on elimination protocols, meal planning, hidden ingredient sources, symptom tracking, and eventually, systematic reintroduction.

Because here's what most people don't realize. This isn't about permanent restriction. It's about identifying your true triggers, healing your gut, and building a sustainable way of eating that works for YOUR body.

What We Actually Test

Our panel covers 120+ foods. All the usual suspects and then some.

Dairy (cow's milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, plus goat and sheep variants). All the gluten grains plus alternatives (wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, quinoa, corn). Proteins (eggs, chicken, beef, pork, lamb, all common fish and shellfish). Legumes and nuts (soy, peanuts, tree nuts, beans, lentils). The full vegetable and fruit spectrum. Yeast, chocolate, coffee, tea, various additives.

Comprehensive. But not overwhelming, because I help you make sense of every result.

We test all four IgG subtypes. Some cheaper tests only measure IgG4, which represents just 1-4% of food-specific IgG antibodies. That's like trying to understand a book by reading every twentieth page. You'll miss most of the story.

Quality testing measures IgG1-4. That's what we do.

Category	What’s Included	Why It Matters
Dairy	Cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, butter	Plus goat and sheep variants
Grains & Gluten	Wheat, barley, rye, oats	Covers all major gluten grains
Gluten-Free Alternatives	Rice, quinoa, corn	Common substitutes often overlooked
Proteins (Animal)	Eggs, chicken, beef, pork, lamb	Core dietary proteins
Fish & Shellfish	All common fish and shellfish	Includes high-reactivity foods
Legumes	Soy, beans, lentils	Frequent triggers for sensitivities
Nuts	Peanuts, tree nuts	Both included
Vegetables	Full vegetable spectrum	Leafy, root, nightshade, cruciferous, etc.
Fruits	Full fruit spectrum	From citrus to berries
Other Foods & Additives	Yeast, chocolate, coffee, tea, various additives	Often missed in basic panels
Total Foods Tested	120+ foods	Broad but manageable
IgG Subtypes Measured	IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4	Complete immune response profiling
Cheaper Tests	IgG4 only	IgG4 = just 1–4% of food-specific IgG
Why This Matters	Full IgG1-4 coverage	Like reading the whole book, not every 20th page
Results Support	Personal interpretation provided	You’re not left guessing what it means

From Testing to Actually Feeling Better

Right. You've got your results. Now what?

Let's say eight foods show high reactivity. Including dairy and wheat, which you eat literally every single day. Multiple times a day.

This can feel crushing. I know. I've sat across from patients whose faces fell when they saw their results. "How do I even start? What do I eat?"

Take a breath. We're going to make this manageable.

Phase 1: Strategic Elimination (Not Everything at Once)

We start with only the high-reactivity foods. Usually three to eight items. Not 40. Not everything showing any reaction. Just the primary suspects.

For most people in the UK, this means temporarily removing cow's dairy, wheat or gluten, and eggs. Sometimes soy or yeast. This covers the most common triggers.

Four to six weeks minimum. Why? Your body needs time to clear existing IgG antibodies and reduce systemic inflammation.

Here's what surprises people. You can still eat abundantly. Fresh vegetables (loads of them). Fruits. Quality proteins that didn't show reactivity. Gluten-free grains like rice, quinoa, buckwheat. Healthy fats. Herbs and spices. Alternative dairy (oat milk, almond milk, coconut yogurt).

What you're eliminating is small compared to what you're keeping.

But I won't pretend it's easy. Dairy and wheat hide everywhere. Processed meats. Sauces. Baked goods. Even some medications contain lactose. I provide detailed lists of hidden sources because label reading becomes essential.

Social situations? Trickier. I tell patients to plan ahead (check restaurant menus online), communicate simply ("I'm avoiding dairy for health reasons"), and focus on what they're gaining (energy, comfort, clear skin) rather than what they're missing.

This is temporary. That helps.

The NHS guidance on food intolerance recommends elimination diets as the primary diagnostic approach, which is exactly what we use IgG testing to guide.

Phase 2: Healing Your Gut (The Bit Everyone Skips)

Elimination alone isn't enough. If you have food intolerances, you almost certainly have some degree of leaky gut. Your intestinal lining has become permeable, allowing larger food particles into your bloodstream, triggering immune responses.

We need to heal that.

Anti-inflammatory foods become your foundation. Fatty fish, colorful vegetables, bone broth if you tolerate it, fermented foods for natural probiotics. Minimize processed foods, sugar, alcohol.

Sometimes targeted supplementation helps. L-glutamine for gut lining repair. Digestive enzymes during healing. Quality probiotics. Omega-3s for anti-inflammatory effects. But I never recommend supplements without assessing individual need. Not everyone requires them.

And here's where my longevity medicine approach comes in.

• Stress damages your gut lining. Chronic cortisol elevation weakens intestinal barrier integrity. We need to address this.

• Sleep is when gut repair happens. Poor sleep means poor healing. We optimize sleep architecture.

• Hydration matters. Your mucosal lining needs adequate fluid.

• Movement supports healthy digestion. But overtraining increases gut permeability. Balance matters.

This is systems-thinking. The cardiac nursing approach applied to gut health. Everything connects.

Phase 3: Systematic Reintroduction (The Most Important Phase)

This is where we discover what you actually react to in real life, not just on a test.

Week six onwards, we start reintroducing foods. One at a time. Normal serving size. Empty stomach, morning is ideal.

You eat the challenge food. Then you wait. Seventy-two hours. Watching for any reaction.

Immediate symptoms (within two hours): digestive upset, energy crash, mood changes, headache.

Delayed symptoms (two to 72 hours): bloating, skin reactions, brain fog, joint pain, fatigue.

No reaction? That food is likely safe to reintroduce regularly.

Mild reaction? Consider occasionally, small amounts.

Moderate to strong reaction? That's a true trigger. Continue avoiding for now, reassess in three to six months after more gut healing.

Most people reintroduce 60-80% of initially reactive foods. You're left avoiding only genuine primary triggers.

Helen? Turned out cow's dairy was her main problem. She could tolerate wheat in small amounts. Eggs occasionally were fine. Now she eats a varied diet, understands her body's signals, and feels like herself again.

That's the goal. Food freedom. Not food fear.

Why a Nurse Cares About What You Eat

In my cardiac days, I saw how inflammation drives disease. Patients with elevated inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6) had worse outcomes. Their cardiovascular systems broke down faster. They aged quicker.

What most people don't realize: chronic food intolerance creates the exact same inflammatory cascade.

You eat a trigger food. IgG antibodies respond. Immune system activates, releasing inflammatory cytokines. Gut barrier weakens further. More food particles escape into bloodstream. Systemic inflammation increases. Cellular damage accelerates throughout your body.

Your cardiovascular system. Inflammation damages blood vessel lining, increases heart disease risk.

Your skin. Inflammation breaks down collagen and elastin, accelerates wrinkle formation, triggers conditions like eczema and rosacea.

Your energy production. Chronic inflammation impairs mitochondrial function. Your cells can't generate energy efficiently. You feel exhausted.

Your hormones. Inflammation disrupts hormone production and metabolism. Thyroid function suffers. Sex hormones become imbalanced. Cortisol regulation goes haywire.

Your brain. Inflammatory cytokines cross the blood-brain barrier. Brain fog, poor concentration, mood disturbances all worsen.

This is measurable. This is reversible. And this is why food intolerance testing isn't about vanity or trend-chasing.

It's about addressing a root cause of accelerated aging and chronic disease.

You can receive the most advanced regenerative aesthetic treatments available. Polynucleotides. Profhilo. NAD+ infusions. But if your body is chronically inflamed from foods you eat every single day, you're undermining every intervention.

True longevity medicine addresses root causes. Food testing is one powerful tool in that approach.

Is This Right for You?

You might benefit from testing if you've been struggling with persistent symptoms that conventional approaches haven't touched. If you've been to your GP and everything comes back normal but you still feel terrible. If you suspect food plays a role but don't know where to start.

Specifically, if you experience bloating after most meals despite eating well. Unexplained chronic fatigue or afternoon crashes. Skin problems that resist treatment. That IBS diagnosis that doesn't quite fit. Joint pain without clear cause. Brain fog making life difficult. Weight that won't shift despite your best efforts.

Food intolerance testing might provide clarity.

But it's not right for everyone.

If you have diagnosed celiac disease, you need different testing and management. If you experience immediate severe reactions (difficulty breathing, swelling, anaphylaxis), you need IgE allergy testing with a specialist. If you're currently eliminating major food groups, testing won't be accurate until you reintroduce them. If you have active eating disorders, addressing those with appropriate psychological support comes first.

For children aged two to seventeen, testing requires additional nutritional considerations. Growing bodies have higher needs. Elimination must be carefully monitored. I recommend discussing concerns with your GP before testing younger children.

Honestly? If you're unsure whether testing is appropriate for you, book an initial consultation. We'll discuss your specific situation, review your history, and determine together whether this is the right step.

What This Actually Costs (And What You're Really Paying For)

Juvenology Comprehensive Food Intolerance Package: £250

Here's what that includes.

IgG blood test analyzing 120+ foods, all four IgG subtypes. Professional laboratory analysis. Results interpretation session with me (60 minutes). Personalized elimination protocol designed for your life. Meal planning guidance and hidden source lists. Four-week follow-up consultation. Ongoing email and phone support throughout. Symptom tracking tools. Reintroduction guidance.

Compare that to basic home kits at £99 where you get results via email with no support. Or multiple private dietitian visits at £60-80 each (most people need four to six sessions minimum, totaling £240-480) without the initial testing data to guide where to start.

What you're actually investing in isn't just the blood test. It's medical expertise. Clinical interpretation. A personalized strategy that fits your actual life. Professional accountability and support when challenges arise. Integration with comprehensive health optimization, not just a list of foods to avoid.

Payment plans available if that helps. Discuss with me at consultation.

Is it expensive? Depends how you look at it. How much have you already spent on supplements that didn't work? Skincare that didn't help? GP visits and medications? How much is feeling like yourself again actually worth?

For Helen, it was life-changing. For others, less so. I can't promise transformation. I can promise thorough assessment, honest guidance, and comprehensive support.

The Questions Everyone Asks

"But is IgG testing actually accurate?"

Here's the honest answer. It's not definitive diagnosis. The presence of IgG antibodies doesn't automatically prove clinical intolerance. The science is still developing.

But approximately 75% of people who eliminate high-IgG foods experience symptom improvement. I've seen this repeatedly in clinical practice. We use testing as a starting point for structured elimination, not as standalone proof.

The gold standard remains elimination and reintroduction. Testing guides which foods to eliminate first.

"Will I have to avoid foods forever?"

No. Most people reintroduce 60-80% of initially reactive foods after gut healing over three to six months.

Permanent avoidance is usually only needed for consistent strong triggers. The goal is food freedom and dietary variety, not lifelong restriction.

"How quickly will I feel better?"

Depends what's causing your symptoms and which foods you're reacting to.

Digestive symptoms often improve within three to seven days. Energy levels stabilize within one to two weeks. Skin improvements take two to four weeks (cellular turnover cycle). Joint pain reduces within two to four weeks. Chronic inflammation markers take four to eight weeks to normalize.

Some people feel dramatically better within days. Others need the full six-week elimination period. Individual variation is significant.

"What if I react to loads of foods?"

Multiple high reactions usually indicate significant gut barrier dysfunction and chronic inflammation. This actually suggests gut healing protocols will be particularly beneficial.

We don't eliminate everything at once. We prioritize most likely triggers, implement phased elimination, support gut healing aggressively.

Multiple reactions often resolve as gut health improves. The gut is remarkably capable of healing when given the right support.

"What's different from those home kits?"

Clinical oversight, personalized interpretation, ongoing support, gut healing protocols, integration with comprehensive health management.

Home kits send results via email with generic booklets. You're left figuring out implementation alone. Most people get overwhelmed and give up.

At Juvenology, you have a registered nurse with cardiac and longevity medicine background guiding you through every phase. That's the difference.

Ready to Understand What Your Body's Trying to Tell You?

If you're tired of feeling terrible with no answers, food intolerance testing might provide the clarity you need.

I won't promise miracles. I will promise thorough assessment, honest guidance, and comprehensive support as we figure out what helps your body thrive.

📞 Call: 07413 138825

📧 Email: office@juvenology.co.uk

🔗 Book Online

Juvenology Clinic, 82 King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1BH

Hours: Monday-Friday 9am-6pm

You Deserve to Feel Like Yourself Again

Understanding your body's responses to food isn't about restriction. It's about finally having answers to symptoms you've lived with for too long.

At Juvenology, we don't just test and tell. We partner with you through elimination, gut healing, and reintroduction. We integrate food intolerance management with our broader longevity medicine philosophy.

In my cardiac days, I learned that inflammation doesn't stay localized. It travels. It affects everything. In longevity medicine, I've learned that what you eat either supports your health or undermines it, often in ways you can't see until you make changes. Food intolerance testing helps identify which foods belong in which category. That's not restriction. That's liberation.

Marina, Founder & Clinical Lead, Juvenology Clinic