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I'm doing something many of us have done before.
But this time, it's for some special tests.
Blood, sweat, and tears for Marketplace.
Will they reveal all the foods that could make me sick?
I'm about to find out.
[ ♪♪ ]
These days, many of us are wondering if we might
be sensitive to some of the foods we eat.
I feel sick a lot so I'm trying to figure out if there's
certain things that I'm eating that I need to cut out.
But pinning down which foods to eliminate could take months.
I was sent for a food sensitivity test.
It's why these tests sold with a promise of quick
results are so popular.
I'm going to send it out to a lab and in seven to ten days,
I'm going to get my results back.
They handed me this big sheet of paper that has
all the foods listed on here.
I am going to actively eliminate them from my diet
for a while and see what happens to my sports performance.
All right. So look--
Why are you showing them your blood?
Lots of different brands, all the same type of blood test.
But it's not cheap.
Anywhere from 100 to over $300.
So does it work?
[ ♪♪ ]
One of my tests is back from the lab.
I ordered it through a local naturopath.
Who's ready to reveal my results.
Okay.
She reads off the foods that show elevated or border line for
me, all 52 of them.
You've got barley, obviously wheat bran, rye.
Rice and corn.
Cabbage and potatoes.
Celery, that's interesting.
Squash as well.
Shrimp.
So what does she suggest I do with all these foods?
[ ♪♪ ]
Stop eating 52 foods, some I eat every day?
Time for a second opinion.
How are you today? -Good.
-Great. Can I take--
Dr. Douglas Mack is a pediatric allergy,
asthma and immunology specialist.
I had a food sensitivity test done.
Brought my results for you. -Awesome.
Let's take a look.
You have scallops and squids, nuts,
yeast, this is very similar to just about every
other patient that comes in here.
What it's doing, it's measuring an antibody we
all make and it's a marker of exposure or tolerance
more than an intolerance.
And what it is basically saying is that you have
probably at some point in the last few weeks had exposure
to any of these foods.
The antibody is called immunoglobulin G
or IGG for short.
What does that mean for someone who--
I don't have any problems when I drink milk.
You don't have a problem, you have a tolerance and
that's why the antibody, the IGG level is increased
because you are tolerant to this.
You can take this with no difficulty.
That's like literally the complete opposite--
It is exactly the opposite, and we spend a ton of time
with families to explain that this is exactly
opposite what they have been told.
Dr. Mack's not alone.
Over 25 Canadian and international organizations
agree, calling these tests irrelevant...
We show Dr. Mack some of my consultation.
So you and milk are not-- like you guys don't agree.
I'm getting advice on how to change my diet and what
to eat and not to eat.
It's something we run into all the time and I have to
tell you we have a lot of patients that are desperate
for something, they're desperate for improvement
of their eczema or improvement of asthma or medical condition.
And they're being told that this is something that will fix them.
Can't eat breads, can't eat bagels.
Laura Chapnick is also desperate,
hoping the test will fix her.
Almonds I couldn't have, sunflower seeds I couldn't have.
After getting the results.
Apparently plums were off the list as well.
Shopping for food gets complicated.
Oh, and potatoes.
Potatoes were off the list.
Laura's food intolerance report tells her to eliminate
or reduce 26 different foods.
These tests scared the crap out of me to put anything in
my mouth whatsoever.
So how did she first hear about the test?
It was here on the screen.
Laura was at a Dynacare clinic like this one,
one of Canada's biggest labs.
While waiting to get other blood tests and an ultrasound,
something catches her eye.
Estimate that 45% of people may be affected by some
kind of food intolerance.
That's like half the population.
So she forks over the 325 bucks.
I thought, oh, my gosh, she's pretty unwell.
She has a complicated medical history and this
is the last thing she needs.
Elke Sengmueller is a registered dietician.
Laura turns to her for help.
Because she drastically cut down her foods already because
of her symptoms and her pain and not getting any answers,
she was afraid to eat.
If she were to continue this for a long period-- for an extended
period of time given her medical history,
I could see it leading to possibly leading to death.
[ ♪♪ ]
Laura Chapnick is unwell so how will the test get
pitched to me?
I am pretty healthy.
It says here, what, 45% of people may be affected?
So that means chances are I've probably got some intolerances.
So my second test is Dynacare's.
A week later, I get my results in the mail.
The Dynacare test identifies all of these problem foods.
None of which are a problem for me.
Telling me to eliminate them from my diet for three months.
Dynacare's not the only lab in the food sensitivity business.
Remember my first test, the one the naturopath
coached me through?
Okay, so almond came up, soy came up,
what kind of milk am I supposed to drink?
It was done by a company called
Rocky Mountain Analytical.
Turns out it's owned by Canada's other big chain
of blood clinics, Life Labs.
These labs we send patients to to get their blood-work done
for their iron or to see if they have cancer.
People go there knowing this is where real science happens.
So the next logical step is if this lab is doing it,
well, it must be true.
[ ♪♪ ]
Back at my consultation, the naturopath has a warning.
So I actually could have holes and the foods are
actually--
--passing through.
I do have a leaky gut.
Very leaky, yes.
One of the things we've been encountered is patients are
told they have a leaky gut caused by this IGG antibody
but to my knowledge I'm not having any literature
to support that at all.
Yet that's exactly how Life Labs pitches it to patients
in the info that comes with your test results.
But all's not lost for my very leaky gut.
And that one that you think is the best bet is how much?
Yeah.
43, okay.
The challenge that I have here is that the disease is
being sold to you but then so is the treatment.
What's wrong with that?
And-- there will be incentive potentially to promote the
hypothesis when the cure can be sold.
And avoid the list of foods.
Thanks very much.
Makes us wonder how are naturopaths learning about this.
Take a look at these webinars from
Life Labs Rocky Mountain Analytical.
This one offers an immediate return on
investment with each test.
And there are 50-dollar bills on this slide.
Honestly, this is taking advantage of people.
This is telling the clinician, the naturopath,
that they can make a lot of money off of
people that are curious.
You can do harm by ordering these tests and having your
children remove these foods from their diet.
We have kids that are coming in with nutritional deficiencies,
with failure to grow very, very well.
If these tests result in the harm of a child,
we really got to think twice whether or not these labs
should be offering these.
During weeks of email exchanges,
Dynacare says it relies on the expertise of the
ordering health professional.
Life labs tells us a test does not need to be
diagnostic to be clinically relevant.
Neither Dynacare nor Life Labs wanted to speak to us
on camera so we're going to try one more time.
We're going to pay them a visit. -Hello--
This is Charlsie Agro, I'm actually calling from
CBC's "Marketplace."
The reason I'm calling, we're actually just outside.
You're telling people to eliminate foods from their
diets when they don't have to.
And we would really like to speak to somebody
on camera about this.
Isn't it misleading?
This is a food sensitivity test and you're telling people to
eliminate food from their diets and it doesn't actually work.
There's nobody who wants to come on camera to speak
to us about this?
It's unfortunate.
People do feel like they're being misled by these tests.
Next, I head over to Dynacare.
They sent us some studies which they say proves food sensitivity
testing the way they're selling it and using it works.
Well, we had an analysis done by our reviewer.
The conclusion was made that a number of those studies actually
shouldn't have been published at all.
And that all of them were very problematic.
Hi.
I have to book an appointment?
So we tried, we've been exchanging emails with
people at Dynacare for weeks now, and we've been asking
repeatedly for an on-camera interview so we really--
We've been sending emails for weeks,
so we're here now and we would really like to get
some answers now.
The concern is that you're telling people to eliminate
foods from their diet, including children,
and it's causing harm.
[ ♪♪ ]
In the meantime, I'll carry on eating
all those problem foods.
Pistachios.
I was told to eliminate.
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