What role, if any, does IgE testing have in your practice to assess food or environmental allergies?

I think IgE testing can be helpful if somebody has a pretty clear allergic-type response. Sometimes, allergy testing, which is almost similar to IgG and IgA [immunoglobulin A] food sensitivity testing, can act as a guideline in terms of what foods, pollens, or exposures need to be limited while you’re rebalancing the immune system. I personally don’t do IgE testing, but often I might refer a patient to an allergist or a specialist who’s going to do that IgE testing to see if there are certain foods or something that are triggering the immune system a little bit more strongly. And again, we’re using that as a guideline, and the hope is that we’ll be able to sort of calm the immune system and you might even start using something like quercetin or these natural antihistamines to help calm the immune system, but certainly decrease the exposures to foods that are particularly triggering for someone’s immune system.