184 Food Sensitivity Panel Test

The Alletess 184 food sensitivity panel measures your immune response (IgG and IgE) to 184 common foods, identifying hidden sensitivities that drive reflux and inflammation. In our Wilmington practice, we use it when heartburn seems tied to eating but standard allergy testing found nothing — because food sensitivities and food allergies are not the same thing.

Food Sensitivity Is Not a Food Allergy

This distinction matters, and most people have never had it explained. A classic food allergy is an IgE reaction — fast, obvious, and sometimes dangerous. A food sensitivity is an IgG-dominant immune response: slower, subtler, and cumulative. You eat the food Monday, feel bloated Tuesday, get heartburn Wednesday, and never connect the three.

Standard allergy testing is not designed to catch these delayed reactions. That is why so many of our patients were told "your allergy test was normal" while their symptoms continued. The Alletess 184 panel measures both IgG and IgE responses across 184 foods — a much wider net than a typical allergy workup.

What the 184 Panel Measures

The panel screens immune reactivity across the foods most people actually eat: dairy proteins, wheat and gluten-containing grains, eggs, common meats, fish and shellfish, nuts and seeds, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and flavorings. Each food gets an IgG and IgE reading, and the results come back as a clear reactivity profile rather than a vague percentage.

What that gives us is a map. Instead of eliminating foods at random one at a time for months, we see which foods your immune system is flagging and start there. In practice, the reactive foods are often staples — a cheese you eat daily, a grain at every meal — which is exactly why symptom patterns feel so confusing.

Who Should Consider Food Sensitivity Testing

• Heartburn or reflux that arrives within hours of eating
• Symptoms that shift depending on the day with no obvious pattern
• Bloating, sinus congestion, skin flare-ups, or fatigue alongside reflux
• A "clean" allergy test but persistent food-related symptoms
• GERD that responds only partially to acid-suppressing medication
• Anyone doing elimination diets without clear results

Conventional Allergy Testing vs. the 184 Panel

Topic	Standard allergy testing	Alletess 184 panel
Immune pathway	IgE only	IgG and IgE
Reaction timing	Immediate reactions	Immediate and delayed reactions
Foods tested	Common allergens	184 commonly eaten foods
Best for	Hives, swelling, anaphylaxis risk	Bloating, reflux, inflammation, "something's off" symptoms
Output	Positive or negative per food	Reactivity profile to build an elimination plan around

How the Test Works

1. We send a collection kit to your home with simple instructions.
2. A small blood sample is collected with the kit's finger-stick method (we walk you through it first) and mailed to the lab.
3. Results are typically back within 7 business days.
4. At your results review, we walk through your reactivity profile and design a practical elimination plan — foods to set aside now, foods to rotate, and how to reintroduce later.

What Happens After Your Results

The point of the test is not a lifelong list of forbidden foods. It is a targeted, time-limited elimination based on what your immune system is actually reacting to. In our Wilmington practice, we typically clear the reactive foods for a defined period while we work on the gut itself, then reintroduce systematically to confirm which foods truly matter for you.

This is where food sensitivity testing meets the rest of your care. Reactive foods often correlate with what the stool testing shows — inflamed lining, weak digestion, microbial imbalance. That is why we usually pair this panel with a comprehensive stool analysis, and sometimes adrenal stress testing when stress clearly shapes your symptoms. It is one of the core tools in our 3-Step Root Cause Heartburn Protocol, and it is available by mail across North Carolina through Wilmington Functional Medicine.