Testing times

IT WAS the case of 'Mr Sneezy' that first brought the work of the York Nutritional Laboratories to James Braly's attention. Mr Sneezy was 52-year-old Patrick Webster from Bournemouth - a man who had been sneezing up to a hundred times a day, all year every day, for 35 years. When he read about the case on the internet, American Dr Braly, an expert on food intolerance, did a quick calculation.

"He was 52 years old and he had been sneezing every two minutes on average, 24 hours a day for 35 years," he says. "I calculated that was between four to six million sneezes in his lifetime."

Mr Webster had been to doctor after doctor, all of whom had been unable to help him. Then he turned to the York Nutritional Laboratories, a former Evening Press Business of the Year.

Their finger-prick food intolerance test revealed that what was causing his problem was the muesli he was making himself for breakfast every morning - particularly the oats he was putting into it.

"He thought he was eating a healthy breakfast," says John Graham, York Nutritional Laboratories' chief executive. "But nearly all his life he had been allergic to oats."

Mr Webster cut the oats and other offending foods out of his diet - and his sneezing was reduced dramatically.

It was that story which caught Dr Braly's eye. His two clinics in California had been carrying out food intolerance tests on patients for years. But what really struck him about the tests administered by the York company was that they required hardly any blood to be taken.

Patients themselves could do a simple "finger-prick" test, and send a swab with a tiny spot of blood off through the post for analysis in the York company's laboratories. That made Dr Braly sit up and take notice.

It was that, combined with the quality of the evidence the York Nutritional Laboratories had built up, that made their testing system unique, he says.

Thousands of people in the UK have now benefited from the York company's test, including Mrs Thatcher's former press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham.

Sir Bernard's results revealed he was intolerant to a range of foods including chocolate, yeast, gluten and eggs. Cutting them from his diet enabled him to beat the migraines which had plagued him for years. He was so impressed by the test that he agreed to work as a consultant for the company.

Other patients have also spoken about how they managed to end years of suffering from chronic conditions such as asthma, eczema, bloating and irritable bowel syndrome after changing their diet following the test.

But one of the problems has always been cost. The company offered two tests: one, costing £125, which would test your blood against a sample of 42 foodstuffs most commonly associated with food intolerance, and a more comprehensive test, costing £245, which screens you against 113 food types.

Compared to a lifetime of suffering from chronic asthma or headaches, £245 may not seem much.

According to a recent survey of more than 4,000 patients who have taken the test, over 70 per cent reported a significant reduction in symptoms.

But for those on a tight budget, £245 is a lot - especially when there is no guarantee that your problems are caused by food intolerance. If more than 70 per cent of people benefited, that still means almost 30 per cent of those tested didn't.

So the food intolerance test hasn't benefited as many people as it could have done. The fact that most people are reluctant to take responsibility for their own health, simply expecting the NHS to pick up the pieces, doesn't help.

That angers Sir Bernard. Something like 45 per cent of the population suffer from some form of allergy or intolerance, and many of them suffer the effects for years, he points out.

Yet the food intolerance tests for pets that the York Nutritional Laboratories offers is taking off faster than the tests for people.

"It really is absolutely barmy," Sir Bernard says.

All that could be about to change, however. Recognising that cost is major factor in putting people off taking the test, the York company has today launched a new 'yes/no' indicator test.

It costs just £19.99, including postage and packing - and what it will do is tell you whether your chronic health problems are caused by a food intolerance, or not.

If they are, you then have the option of taking one of the fuller tests to find out precisely which foodstuffs you should avoid. You'll be offered a ten per cent discount - and you won't even need to send in another blood sample, because the laboratory will be able to use the one you have already submitted.

If the indicator test is negative, meaning your ill health isn't caused by food intolerance, then you needn't waste any more money - though you will still be left with the problem of not knowing what causes your illness.

Dr Braly, who helped to launch the new test, describes it as "quite brilliant".

"It is an accessible and inexpensive test that will say basically yes or no: yes, you are food intolerant and you should investigate it further, or no, you aren't," he says.

"Suspecting food allergy as a potential cause of commonly suffered conditions is the first step on the road to optimum health. Accurate identification and elimination of food allergens is the crucial second step.

"The test represents a significant step forward in addressing the enormously prevalent problem of food intolerance."

The new indicator test - it is essentially a form of "screening" which is a common approach in medicine - has been endorsed by charity Allergy UK, formerly the British Allergy Foundation.

Chief executive Muriel Simmons says: "Almost half the people in the UK suffer from food intolerance. It is clear from the work that York Nutritional Laboratories has been doing that if the foods identified are eliminated from the diet, tremendous benefits can be achieved."

John Graham hopes that the test could be adopted by GPs with problem patients who have long-term conditions that orthodox medicine, with its emphasis on treating the symptoms rather than the causes of ill health, has not been able to help.

If it were more widely employed, he points out, the quality of life of millions of people could be improved - and the NHS and businesses in the UK whose performance is affected by unwell employees could save millions of pounds.

Sir Bernard agrees - but he'd also like to see people taking more responsibility for their own health, too.

Too many people believe the NHS should do everything for them, he says. "But you should help yourself if you can," he says. "It only costs £20!"

For a free information booklet on food intolerance testing visit the York Nutritional Laboratories website at www.allergy-testing.com or call freephone 0800 074 6185.

Updated: 09:22 Monday, June 17, 2002