Social media is awash with content about food intolerances and the symptoms to look out for. But figuring out whether you actually have one, and what’s triggering it, is surprisingly difficult. One avenue people are gravitating towards is at-home testing.
The Problem with At-Home Tests
Madeleine Finlay sits down with health and lifestyle journalist Rebecca Seal to unpick the science behind these tests. Rebecca explains how they purport to work, how accurate they actually are, and how we can all investigate what we might be intolerant to, without breaking the bank.
What the Experts Say
Rebecca’s book Irritated: The Allergy Epidemic and What We Can Do About It, is out now. She states, ‘They’re all junk, and should be banned’: the trouble with at-home food intolerance tests.
Order Rebecca’s book from the Guardian Bookshop. Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod
Photograph: Ekaterina Goncharova/Getty Images
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