Home test allows you to figure out what foods negatively affect your body

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Home health tests have become an easy way for us to discover more about ourselves and our bodies.

Now, there is one test that can help you tailor your diet, to filter out foods that may not be best for you.

Fresno hair stylist Britny Lee lives a busy life and is usually working during doctor's office hours.

So when she wanted to find out what foods in her diet may be causing her to feel ill, she took a food sensitivity test.

"So I can be aware of what I'm eating and putting in my body, and if it can help from feeling fatigued then it would be nice to know to cut that out of my diet," said Lee.

With the prick of her finger and a few simple steps, her kit was sent off to a lab.

From salmon to strawberries and crab to coffee; one kit tests your sensitivity to a wide range of foods by examining a specific antibody in your blood.

There are several popular food sensitivity tests available.

The company behind Britny's test is called 'Everlywell.' Their kit tests how your body might react to certain foods that can cause non-life threatening symptoms like fatigue, headaches, eczema, joint or stomach pains to name a few.

"The food proteins are in the lab, and we're taking the customers blood and then putting that against the food in the lab to see if they have high IgG reactivity against those particular foods," said Everywell's Executive Medical Director Marra Francis.

When Britny got her results back in just a few weeks, she was surprised to learn her body is mildly sensitive to some of her favorite foods.

"Milk, cheese, I was scared of that one, cashew, wheat, asparagus, weird gluten, cottage cheese, chicken, yogurt, mustard, egg, white blueberry," said Lee.

'Everlywell' points out their tests do not identify food *allergies.

Local allergist Doctor William Ebbeling at Baz Allergy Asthma and Sinus Center says for that, you need to visit an allergist, and he's not so sure these types of tests are helpful.

"If you have problems with food allergy, your allergist-immunologist is the person who is trained to find it," said Dr. Ebbeling.

Francis says 'Everlywell' wants to make it clear this test is meant to be a simple way to guide your eating habits to feel better.

"With that people can prioritize foods that they can then do an elimination diet to identify if any foods are causing symptoms," said Francis.

Britny says now that she has this information about how her body reacts to certain foods, she's going to take a closer look at her diet and cut back on some things.

"I think it's accurate because maybe that's what's causing me to be sluggish or fatigued so it's very helpful," said Lee.