Thread by @AllergyKidsDoc

For my #TuesdayThoughts thread, I'd like to discuss farts.

My farts, to be specific.

You see, I farted a lot last week. I was also bloated. I was curious why, so I turned to the internet.

The 1st link informed me that I may have a food intolerance, so I looked that up ⬇️

I quickly found some handy dandy quizzes designed to see if I may have a food intolerance.

Question 1 - excessive flatulence. Check.
Question 2 - wait, what? Why is a food intolerance quiz asking if I have metallic taste in my mouth or blurry vision?

There's more ⬇️

OMG!!! According to this quiz, a food intolerance could be causing my AGGRESSIVE OUTBURSTS😱

And now I may have finally found a reason for my clumsiness!!!

Lastly, this quiz associates food intolerance with arthritis, psoriasis and all sorts of chronic conditions.

After taking the quiz, I was asked to enter my name and email.

The 'score' essentially guarantees that EVERYONE who inputs any answer whatsoever may have a hidden food intolerance.

Participants then can pay $$$ for personal services and at home testing.

If you'd read this far, you must be curious as to why I was farting so much last week.

Turns out, I ate brussel sprouts 4 days in a row (so yummy).

My excessive flatulence was merely a normal digestive response to the higher amounts of fiber in my diet.

This is one example of how numerous companies & websites take advantage of common symptoms, chronic conditions, and normal digestion by falsely claiming they are due to 'food intolerance' or 'food sensitivity'.

There are many non-validated tests offered: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29524991

The most common form of at home 'food sensitivity or intolerance' testing measures IgG antibody towards food.

There's a problem here: IgG is a memory antibody. It is supposed to be produced when we eat foods.

However, these 'tests' misinterpret normal findings as abnormal.

There is evidence based information available as to why 'food sensitivity' testing, especially IgG testing, is not helpful & can even be detrimental if it keeps someone from finding the real cause of chronic underlying GI symptoms.

Link: aacijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

There are many interesting and fun parts of being a human.

Farting after eating fiber happens to be one of them.

This is not a medical problem. It does not require testing. All it takes is comfort & understanding of how normal digestion responds to what types of food we eat👍

To conclude, be careful with online searches.

Be careful with getting medical information from sites that are also selling their services.

Be careful with celebrity endorsements - they are being paid to sell products.

And be careful with eating too many brussel sprouts!😉