Have you noticed that you feel sick after eating foods containing wheat or other grains? If so, you may have a gluten allergy. Gluten, a protein, is found in grains and is added to many other food products. To determine whether gluten is the culprit of your illness, undergo gluten allergy testing.
This usually begins with blood testing to determine whether you have Celiac’s Disease. This is a severe form of gluten allergy. The test for Celiac’s Disease involves checking the blood for antibodies known as AGA, EMA, and Anti-tTg. Assuming that this test comes back negative, your doctor will likely conduct an allergen test. This skin prick test enables the doctor to check for a range of food and other allergies at the same time. There are also both stool and saliva tests that may be conducted to check for gluten sensitivities.
If these tests do not come back positive, more testing may be recommended to rule out other conditions known to cause similar symptoms. Finally, your doctor may also want to conduct checks for anemia, inflammation, vitamin deficiencies, and liver and kidney function, as each of these can be caused or affected by consuming gluten if you have a gluten allergy.
In addition to these clinical tests, your doctor may advise you to follow an elimination diet to confirm the diagnosis. What this means is avoiding any products containing gluten for a period of time. If you feel better while not consuming gluten, then gluten was the likely culprit.