Sage Medical Lab Develops Immune Complex Test for Food Sensitivities

Ormond Beach, FL, August 28, 2008 --(PR.com)-- How Can Good Foods Be Bad For You?

The old adage, “you are what you eat” may be truer than most people realize. Patients with the symptoms of chronic diseases understand this adage all too clearly, usually suffering painful symptoms and/or delayed reactions that lead to inflammation and degeneration over an extended period of time.

Recent findings suggest a direct correlation between an improper diet and chronic & auto-immune diseases like: Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, Arthritis, Overactive Bladder, and all other chronic diseases. Whenever the immune system is unstable and in a hypersensitive state, there is greater risk of contracting and/or worsening the symptoms of these chronic and debilitating diseases. In fact, it wasn’t until 2000, with the discovery of Zonulin, a substance found in the digestive system, supporting the Leaky Gut Syndrome theory of food sensitivities affecting the immune system.*

In most cases the trigger foods that cause the chronic symptoms are usually foods that the patient eats most often. With a compromised immune system, the normal processing of foods through the stomach is altered by Zonulin, which in an agitated state spreads the walls of the stomach lining and allows undigested food particles to slip through the stomach wall directly into the bloodstream. These food particles circulate throughout the body, where once they pass back through the liver, the body automatically identifies these food particles as foreign agents and attaches anti-bodies in an attempt to destroy them. These new supersized particles, called immune complexes, are again circulated through the bloodstream where they finally settle into the body’s weakest areas.

The result is inflammation in the infected area, which causes the body to over-react and send in additional antibodies to defend itself against the very foods that are supposed to be providing nutrition. Over time, the inflammation continues to irritate the infected area, causing even more damage while the body produces even more antibodies to try to fight the effects of the growing inflammation. This begins a negative cascade spiral of more and more debilitating & painful symptoms, and diseases for the patient, that never seems to get any better, and in most cases will continue to produce ever more harmful symptoms and/or diseases. So how does a patient know which foods are triggering these harmful reactions?

Sage Medical Laboratory has developed a simple blood test procedure (Complement Antigen Test) that accurately identifies the problem foods. Then specially trained counselors and an in-house executive Chef & Nutrition Consultant work directly with the patient, and their doctor, to develop a custom diet regimen that includes gourmet recipes and a personalized daily diet for eating only the specific foods that their body has shown it can assimilate and process properly.

The results have been amazing for most patients who follow the suggested protocols, with the majority of patients exhibiting no more chronic symptoms after just 6 weeks. Once the immune system is calmed down and back in alignment, then those foods that tested positive for an allergic reaction may be re-introduced to the diet in a regimented challenge phase, finally ending with a continuing care for life wellness program.

As a Medicare Provider, Sage Medical Laboratory assists each patient in securing co-payment, or full payment from most health care providers, and with no out-of-pocket-expense for Medicare Part B patients. For more information about the Sage Complement Antigen Test, contact Sage Medical Laboratory at 800-491-9511, or online to sagelab.com.

*(Source: Early effects of gliadin on enterocyte intracellular signalling involved in intestinal barrier function. M G Clemente, S De Virgiliis, J S Kang, R Macatagney, M P Musu, M R Di Pierro, S Drago, M Congia and A Fasano - Gut 2003;52;218-223; doi:10.1136/gut.52.2.218 )

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