Dr. Jacqui Fleury, ND Explains the Difference Between Food Allergies and Food Sensitivities

In this Healthy Living segment, Dr. Fleury sits down with Chantal Wagner from Global TV to break down the difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity.

Watch the full clip to follow along as Dr. Fleury guides Chantal through the process of taking the test and explains how food sensitivity test results can help you tailor your nutrition to best serve your unique immune and digestive systems. 

Chantal: Naturopathic doctor Jacqui Fleury joins us this morning, and we are diving into food sensitivities, and that versus allergies today as well. Good morning Jacqui. 

Dr. Fleury: Good morning, good morning! Yeah, so we decided that we were going to have a little bit of fun with determining the difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity with you as our lovely volunteer, so you agreed for me to be able to do a food sensitivity test for you, because there is a difference between a food sensitivity and a food allergy. 

So if you have a food allergy, most people know it. They eat a food, and their throat closes, or they break out into hives, or they might need an epipen, and that’s a reaction that’s mediated by a certain part of the immune system, which is an igE antibody. But if you have a food sensitivity, you often don’t know, because it can take hours to days to develop a response, and so we decided that we would do a proactive test for you to figure out if there may be foods that you might be sensitive to that you’re unaware of. 

Chantal: Yes, exactly. So we did the test about a couple weeks ago now, so still awaiting my results. As far as I know, I don’t have any sensitivities that I’m aware of. So we’re looking at some footage right now of the little test, just a light finger prick. Jacqui can you walk us through it? 

Dr. Fleury: Yeah, so really what we’re doing is we are testing for a different part of the immune system, an igG antibody, and this can be determined by just collecting a few drops of blood and then sending that away to a lab to have it analyzed, and for you we’re going to analyze for 120 different foods to determine whether or not you do have a food sensitivity that you’re not aware of. 

For a lot of people, they may feel fine when they eat the food, but they may have skin conditions or a history of headaches or hormonal imbalances or unexplained weight gain and not really understand whether or not there are foods that they’re eating that are contributing to those symptoms, so that’s where we can determine whether or not there is something more we could do to dial in their nutrition. 

In your situation we’ll consider that a proactive approach to helping you customize your nutrition to your immune system. 

Chantal: Wonderful. Yeah, I’m excited to see the results, and that’s coming in a couple of weeks. So then with the results, the goal is really to optimize my immune system and digestive function? 

Dr. Fleury: Absolutely. So 70% of your immune system is in your gut. 90% of your serotonin, your feel-good hormone, is produced in your gut, and so sometimes we’re eating foods unknowingly that can be impacting our immune systems or our moods, and so in this situation we can help optimize your nutrition going forward. 

Chantal: Wonderful, and more on the test, just for anyone to come in, and it is interesting if you really wanna dial in on maybe you feel that you do have a sensitivity. 

Dr. Fleury: Absolutely. If you are eating foods, and sometimes you feel fine when you eat them, sometimes you don’t, this is a good opportunity to help just dial in that information a little bit more specifically. 

Chantal: Wonderful. Anything else we should know about food sensitivities when it comes to allergies and our overall health?

Dr. Fleury: Well the food sensitivities are those delayed reactions, and a food allergy is something that you know right away, so I think that’s the difference is that an allergy is pretty obvious. A sensitivity is something that sometimes takes a little bit more investigation to get to the bottom of. 

Chantal: Okay wonderful. Well we will wait. In the next couple of weeks on our next Healthy Living, I’m thinking that’s July when you come back, and we’ll look at my results. And thank you. That was nice to come in and be in person with you, Jacqui, for that test. 

Dr. Fleury: Yeah it was great. Thanks for being a good sport about it. 

Chantal: Well thank you. Thank you so much.