insights

IFM’s Advanced Practice Modules (APM) offer insight into a range of clinical conundrums and provide useful clinical pearls on approaching care through the functional medicine lens. Below is a question that is frequently asked by attendees during the program. 

Can a patient resolve their documented IgG food sensitivities?
In a patient who has a high level of IgG food sensitivities, it is possible to reduce the amount of immunogenicity of those IgG+ foods through a 5R program. The proposed mechanism behind this is that tight junctions are able to heal, GALT (specifically M-cells/Peyer’s patches) sampling leads to better tolerance (through a T cell–mediated mechanism), and there is a reduction in the plasma cell production of IgG Abs to that particular food product. The 5R program balances the microbiome. Depending on a complexity of mechanisms, not all IgG food sensitivities can be resolved and reintroduced without an immunogenic response. This is why testing foods after a period of elimination is an important part of the management of chronic food sensitivities.¹

Clinical takeaway: It is possible to reduce IgG food sensitivities through rebalancing the microbiome and improving intestinal permeability. However, not all food sensitivities may improve. It’s important to retest foods following an elimination period in order to determine if a patient is still reacting to a specific food.

Underlying food sensitivities and inflammation may impact immune health and function. At the upcoming Immune Advanced Practice Module (APM), clinicians learn to apply dietary and lifestyle interventions to return the immune system to a state of balance.

Reference:

1. Neuendorf R, Corn J, Hanes D, Bradley R. Impact of food immunoglobulin G-based elimination diet on subsequent food immunoglobulin G and quality of life in overweight/obese adults. J Altern Complement Med. 2019;25(2):241-248. doi:10.1089/acm.2018.0310