In This Article
In This Article
As many as 8% of children and 11% of adults are suffering from some sort of allergy.
A higher percentage experience some type of intolerance. With a range of symptoms, both intolerances and allergies can be a nightmare to deal with.
The best way to deal with these conditions is to avoid the food or environmental irritant that’s causing them.
That’s why these at-home tests have become so popular in recent years. But, seeing as so many of them have popped up on the market, they’re not all totally reliable.
So we took the top allergy and intolerance tests on the market and narrowed down the best of the best.
In this article, we’ll lay out the best 3 test kits for anyone with:
The main differences between allergic reactions and intolerances are as follows:
Environmental or food allergies tend to be far more severe than intolerances. Food allergy can even be deadly in some cases.
Unlike food intolerance, a food allergy causes an immune system response. This could affect a number of your body’s organs. This response can be severe. In some rare cases, such as seafood or peanut allergies, it can be life-threatening.
Environmental allergies are not nearly as serious as food allergies. Even so, they’re still rather unpleasant. They’re caused by something in your surrounding environment, such as dander or pollen.
These allergies also cause an immune response and have a number of unpleasant symptoms, including:
For those with asthma, an environmental allergy can be especially severe and life-threatening.
Intolerances tend to be far less severe than allergies, and aren’t life-threatening. Those with these food sensitivities can usually ingest small amounts of the offending food without much issue.
The symptoms of food intolerance can vary quite a bit depending on the type of intolerance. Some causes of food intolerances include:
This is when you lack the enzyme needed to digest lactose. Known as lactose intolerance, symptoms include diarrhea, gas, cramps, and bloating.
Some people are incredibly sensitive to certain common food additives. These include sulfites or preservatives. This intolerance can lead to trouble in breathing, including asthma attacks in those affected.
Certain foods can lead to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
This is especially true in sensitive populations. While the cause of IBS isn’t fully understood, it’s known that diet and food sensitivity play a role. Some IBS symptoms include constipation/diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, and cramps.
This condition is caused by ingesting gluten. It is a protein that is commonly found in wheat and some other grains.
Celiac disease is considered a gluten intolerance. However, it causes an immune response similar to an allergy. The best treatment for this condition is eliminating gluten from your diet.
Intolerances to environmental items have many similar symptoms to environmental allergies. These two are often confused. Where they mainly differ is that an allergy involves the immune system, while an intolerance does not.
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Key Features:
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According to InnerBody, EverlyWell’s allergy tests had a surprisingly high rate of accuracy of 90% to 95% based on their independent laboratory testing.
This makes the EverlyWell Indoor & Outdoor Allergy Test one of the most accurate at-home allergy tests on the market.
Using a small blood sample, this EverlyWell allergy test kit will check if you’re reacting to a variety of indoor and outdoor allergens. This includes 9 types of weeds, 14 trees, 4 molds, 7 kinds of grass, 2 pet allergens, 2 pests, and 2 types of dust mites. Unfortunately, the test only checks for environmental allergies and doesn’t look at food allergens.
Key Features:
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The Environmental Intolerance Test checks if you may be suffering from an adverse reaction to a variety of commonly found indoor and outdoor items. The test is pain-free, and simply uses five strands of your hair (hence the company name) to run its bioresonance screening. The intolerances it checks for can cause a variety of symptoms, including sleeping problems, skin rash, headaches, and acne.
This hair test is quite extensive and covers 190 different environmental items. Some of the types of things 5Strand’s test covers include cleaning materials, trees, grasses, chemical additives, dust mites, and flowers. The actionable results you receive even includes an avoidance guideline to help you narrow down which irritants are causing your adverse reactions.
Key Features:
I got one of 5Strands Delux Packages - which includes the Environmental Intolerance Test
Send in steps are very simple:
Overall, this is a very non-intrusive test and is easy to take. Once you've taken the test, you are emailed results (no dashboard). A sample pages of results looks like this:
5Strands suggests trying to eliminate Level 3 Intolerance first, and then moving to Level 2 if you are still experiencing issues.
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The Food Intolerance Test checks for adverse reaction to 600 food intolerances and sensitivities. The test is pain-free. It uses five strands of your hair (hence the company name) to run its bioresonance screening. The food intolerances it checks for can cause a variety of health problems and symptoms.
This hair test is quite extensive and covers 600 different environmental items. 5Strand’s test covers:
Key Features:
The answer to this question depends on what your symptoms are and what questions you’re trying to answer.
If you’re showing environmental allergy or intolerance symptoms, which are often similar, it may be a good idea to take both
EverlyWell’s allergy test kit as well as 5Strands Environmental Intolerance Test. That way you can narrow down whether it’s an environmental allergy, intolerance, or both that are causing your symptoms.
However, if you’re suffering from something like irritable bowel syndrome or you suspect lactose intolerance, you should consider 5Strands Food Intolerance Test.
While the other tests focus more on environmental irritants, this test will let you know if it’s your diet that’s causing your problems.
EverlyWell’s at-home allergy test kit results are analyzed by an independent laboratory and are shown to have a 90% and 95% accuracy level.
If you take either EverlyWell’s allergy test or 5Strands Environmental Intolerance test, you’ll receive an avoidance guide to help you stay away from the environmental item that’s responsible for your discomfort.
With 5Strands Food Intolerance Test, you’ll receive an elimination diet guide to help you adjust your eating habits.
