This article is based on an expert interview with Katie Marks-Cogan, MD, conducted by wikiHow Staff Editors. Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan is a board certified Pediatric & Adult Allergist at Clear Allergy based in Los Angeles, California. She is the Chief Allergist for Ready, Set, Food!, an infant dietary supplement designed to reduce the risk of childhood food allergies. She received her M.D. with honors from the University of Maryland. She then completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University and fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP.
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Diagnosing a food allergy is best done by visiting a board-certified allergist. In this video, Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan outlines the three methods allergists use to diagnose a potential food allergy in a patient, using multiple data points to find an answer. Once these tests are completed, the allergist will determine the likelihood and severity of the allergy, and what steps the patient can take to address it.
First, if you suspect you have a food allergy, I would definitely recommend seeing a board certified allergist. To diagnose a food allergy, first an allergist reviews the patient's medical history. Based on that history, we can decide to do one of three things: a skin prick test, a blood test, or an oral food challenge. We often do a combination of these three things to get multiple data points to help us find an answer. To do a skin prick test, also known as the scratch test, we prick the common allergenic proteins in a liquid form through the top layer of the patient's skin. If the patient is sensitive to one of the allergens, they'll form a small bump like a mosquito bite. Reacting to a skin prick test means they are sensitized to that protein, but not necessarily allergic. We'll often combine a skin prick test with a blood test that measures allergy antibodies called IgE antibodies to get a better sense of the patient's risk of allergy. The gold standard for diagnosing a food allergy is an oral food challenge, which is where the patient eats a certain food in a very controlled environment with the allergist present. From there, we determine the likelihood and severity of the allergy and what steps to take to address it.
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