Food Challenge

Latest Edit: Hector 2014-03-13 (EDT)

See Also	Naturopathic Therapies

See Also	Clinical Nutrition

A food challenge refers to administering a food to an individual to see if it elicits specific symptoms or reactions. A food challenge is typically done following the elimination of one or more foods.

The typical use of the food challenge involves the following steps:

1. Consume an oligoantigenic diet or elimination diet for a specific period of time (typically 7 to 14 days). The purpose of removing foods ahead of times is to reduce the amount of inflammation and reactivity of the body.
2. Challenge the person by introducing one food at a time that is a suspected allergen or intolerance.
3. Each new food that is to challenge must be preceded by at least three days of a person being symptom free, which may mean that a person returns to the oligoantigenic or elimination diet between food challenges for at least three days, especially if the previous food caused a reaction.
4. If symptoms return when an individual is "challenged" with a food, this food is then confirmed as an allergen and eliminated from the diet.