An allergy is an immune reaction, usually rapid and IgE-mediated; an intolerance is not immune and is usually digestive. Skin prick tests and specific IgE blood tests are reliable when interpreted with the clinical history. IgG food sensitivity panels are not recommended by allergy bodies and routinely produce false positives.
Symptoms of allergies
Symptoms vary, and few people have all of them. These are the ones most commonly reported.
2-minute check
Allergy or intolerance?
Four questions. Your result appears immediately — we do not ask for an email.
How soon after exposure do symptoms start?
What kind of symptoms?
Does a tiny amount cause it?
Does it happen every single time?
This pattern fits intolerance more than allergy
Intolerance is usually dose-dependent and digestive. It is uncomfortable rather than dangerous.
The pattern is not clear-cut
Worth proper assessment rather than guessing, particularly before removing foods long term.
This pattern fits allergy
Please see a doctor for proper testing. If you have ever had lip, face or tongue swelling or breathing difficulty, that is urgent.
This check is an indication, not a diagnosis. It does not replace medical advice.
When to see a doctor
Arrange a medical appointment rather than waiting if you have:
- Swelling of the lips, tongue, face or throat — emergency
- Difficulty breathing or swallowing — emergency
- Any previous severe reaction — you may need an adrenaline auto-injector
- Suspected food allergy in a child
- Before removing a major food group long term
What causes allergies
The distinction matters because it determines the test, the treatment and the seriousness.
It produces IgE antibodies to a harmless protein.
The allergen binds those antibodies.
Rapidly, usually within minutes.
From itching and sneezing to, rarely, anaphylaxis.
Risk factors
- A family history of allergy, asthma or eczema
- Existing asthma or eczema
- Early-life antibiotic exposure
- Urban living and air pollution
- Delayed introduction of allergenic foods in infancy
- Occupational exposures
How allergies is diagnosed
| Test | What it indicates |
|---|---|
| Detailed clinical history | The most important part — tests mean little without it |
| Skin prick testing | Reliable for IgE-mediated allergy |
| Specific IgE blood test | Where skin testing is impractical |
| Supervised oral food challenge | The definitive test for food allergy |
| Elimination and reintroduction | For suspected intolerance, done properly |
| Coeliac serology | Before removing gluten — testing is invalid afterwards |
Not sure which of these you have had?The assessment asks, and tells you which are worth requesting.
Check my health parametersWhat happens if it is left untreated
Stated factually, because these risks are real and manageable rather than inevitable.
- Anaphylaxis, which can be fatal
- Unnecessary dietary restriction and consequent deficiency
- Poor growth in children on over-restricted diets
- Anxiety around eating and social situations
- Poorly controlled asthma where allergy is untreated
How Health Total treats allergies
Our protocol runs alongside whatever your doctor has prescribed. We do not ask anyone to stop medication.
-
1
Separate allergy from intolerance
They have different mechanisms, different tests and very different levels of risk.
-
2
Use tests that are actually validated
IgG food sensitivity panels are not recommended by allergy societies and generate long lists of false positives.
-
3
Test for coeliac before removing gluten
Testing becomes unreliable once gluten has been removed, and the diagnosis matters.
-
4
Restrict narrowly and temporarily
Removing a long list of foods causes real nutritional harm, particularly in children.
-
5
Replace what is removed
If dairy goes, calcium has to come from somewhere. This is routinely forgotten.
What makes this different
A standard diet plan
- A commercial IgG sensitivity panel
- A long list of foods removed at once
- Gluten removed before coeliac testing
- Nothing replaced nutritionally
How we do it
- Validated testing, read with the history
- Narrow, temporary, structured elimination
- Coeliac excluded first
- Calcium and nutrients actively replaced
Nine questions. Two minutes.You will see your result before we ask for your name.
Start my free assessmentAudited results
Publication pending. Aggregate outcome figures for this condition — sample size, inclusion criteria, mean and median change, range and dropout rate — will appear here once the audited outcome report is complete and signed by a second clinician.
Under the ASCI Healthcare Guidelines, a success rate, timeline or efficacy claim requires peer-reviewed data or the organisation’s own audited outcome report. We would rather publish nothing here than publish a number we cannot substantiate.
Case studies
De-identified clinical records — the plan as delivered, the markers as measured, and adherence as it actually was. Each signed by the supervising clinician and verified by a second.
Case file 1
Awaiting the case production line — dependency D6.
Case file 2
Awaiting the case production line — dependency D6.
Case file 3
Awaiting the case production line — dependency D6.
The standard each case must meet before publication →
Published with specific, informed and withdrawable consent. Individual results vary.
Why Health Total for allergies
Clinicians, named
Over 200 doctors and nutritionists. Every condition page here carries the name and credentials of the person who wrote it and the person who reviewed it.
Indian food, Indian bodies
Thirty years of treating Indian patients, with plans built from Indian kitchens and read against Asia-Pacific metabolic cut-offs.
Our own data
Outcomes come from audited internal records, not from studies conducted elsewhere on other populations.
Somewhere to walk in
Physical centres across India, which most app-based programmes cannot offer.
Recipes for allergies
Buttermilk with roasted jeera
Thin, not thick, and never chilled. Both details matter.
See the recipe →Ginger and tulsi kadha
Symptom relief, made properly. Not a treatment for infection, and we say so.
See the recipe →Tempered curd rice
A live-culture food that costs nothing. One temperature rule decides whether it works.
See the recipe →Articles
What diet does and does not do for skin
Some dietary claims about skin are well supported. Most are not.
Read →Immunity: what actually works and what is sold
A well-regulated immune system is the goal. A boosted one is not.
Read →Asthma, allergy and what food has to do with it
Nutrition has a supporting role here — and being exact about its size matters.
Read →Recurrent throat infection: when to stop treating and start investigating
Repeated courses of antibiotics is a pattern worth questioning.
Read →Questions we are asked
Are food sensitivity blood tests reliable?
The IgG panels widely sold in India are not recommended by allergy societies. IgG indicates exposure rather than intolerance, so the tests reliably produce long lists of everyday foods and lead to unnecessary restriction. We do not use them and would advise against paying for one.
What is the difference between allergy and intolerance?
Allergy is an immune reaction, usually within minutes, triggered by even small amounts, and it can be dangerous. Intolerance is not immune, usually digestive, generally dose-dependent, and uncomfortable rather than dangerous.
Should I remove gluten to see if I feel better?
Get tested for coeliac disease first. Once gluten is removed, coeliac testing becomes unreliable, and coeliac is a diagnosis with long-term consequences that matters to have confirmed.
Can allergies be outgrown?
Many childhood milk and egg allergies are outgrown. Peanut, tree nut and shellfish allergies are more often lifelong. Re-assessment over time is worthwhile and should be done under supervision.
Start with your own numbers.Free assessment, free first consultation, and no figure quoted that we cannot substantiate.
Start my free assessmentReferences
- EAACI guidelines on food allergy and anaphylaxis.
- Indian Academy of Pediatrics guidance on food allergy.
- [Further references to be completed by the medical review panel.]