High street food allergy testing criticised by NICE

摘要

Food allergy test kits available on the high street and online came in for criticism from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence earlier this week.Tests such as the Vega test, kinesiology and hair analysis are not recommended by NICE because there is little evidence for their effectiveness.NICE'S guideline gives advice on the diagnosis and assessment of children and young people with suspected food allergy. It recommends that skin prick tests and blood tests for specific IgE antibodies should only be undertaken by healthcare professionals with the appropriate competencies to select, perform and interpret them, and for skin prick tests, only where there are facilities to deal with an anaphylactic reaction.