'I'm a health writer and everyone should do life-changing test'

'I'm a health writer and everyone should do life-changing test' Steve Smith wasn't feeling right, so decided to do a food intolerance test It may or may not be the same for other people, but I think I’ve reached the age where I can no longer take good health for granted. That’s not to sound dramatic, but I think in your teens, 20s and probably 30s as well, you can take fairly light steps to stay healthy without worrying too much about it. Alas, at the age of 42, I think that is starting to change. A couple of months ago I started to feel somewhat uncomfortable in the stomach department. You know that sort of trapped wind feeling where you want to burp, but you can’t? That, but for weeks on end. Now, my day job involves writing about lifestyle and money for Reach's websites across the UK. That includes, frequently, health matters. Barely a day goes by where I don’t either read about, write about, or edit, some words containing some sort of health advice from doctors and other medical professionals. Gut health, bloating and that sort of thing crop up pretty regularly. So do the “this probably isn’t, but might be cancer or something else serious” pieces of advice. Now, symptoms of bloating can be signs of many things medically, but it was not lost on me that it is indeed a sign of something sinister, such as bowel cancer. That knowledge, alongside someone very close to me going through said type of cancer in the past year, prompted me to not just put up with it, but to see my doctor. Going to see the doctor with stomach issues Despite all the stories you read - and I often write and edit in this job - of people telling us that their doctor dismissed their concerns and sent them off with some paracetamol before they later found it was something much worse, my GP was very thorough. He took my concerns seriously and sent me for both blood tests and a Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), which is the test for bowel cancer that is offered to people aged over 50 in the UK and, therefore, not something I was yet routinely eligible for. I had and did the tests and, thankfully, all came back normal. We had, as my doctor said to me, ruled out anything truly nasty. Continued search for answers Good news, but it didn’t change how I had been feeling for something like six weeks by that point. So I kept looking into what it could be. And yes, I did use Google AI, but I will admit that if you use it properly, checking where it has sourced its information from, it can be quite useful for these sorts of things. Taking into account my medical journey so far, one thing that was mentioned was the possibility of mild constipation. I’ll spare you the details, but I decided to take some medication to give myself, shall we say, somewhat of a reset. It certainly helped and I have felt much better on the whole since. I also decided to cut down on bread, as I ate it at least twice a day and figured that was an obvious thing to try. Turning point I might have left it there, had it not been for my work. One day I was editing the story of a woman who’d had stomach issues for years before she took a food intolerance test from Supply Life. She said it’d led to her changing her diet and had transformed things for her. Now, much like with my health in general, I’ve been very lucky up to this point to have been able to eat and drink pretty much what I want. No allergies, no intolerances - at least not as far as I knew. Checking for food intolerances My doctor had mentioned food intolerances as a possibility before we “tested for nasties” and so I thought let’s give it a go. According to organisations such as the British Dietetic Association, it’s estimated that between 1% and 10% of the general population has a true food hypersensitivity or intolerance, but as many as 20% experience some degree of adverse reaction that leads them to believe they do. Supply Life offers food intolerance tests. It’s important to stress that this isn’t about allergies - that is altogether more serious and is definitely one to discuss with your doctor. This is about foods that aren’t going to kill you, but are going to make you feel less than great. To paraphrase Supply Life’s words, you can feel revitalised and say goodbye to symptoms like bloating, energy dips, unwanted weight and stomach discomfort by finding out which foods you are intolerant or sensitive to. Finding and ordering a food intolerance test Supply Life - and of course other providers are available, so of course do some research first to see what suits your situation - offers three different tests, at three price points. The ‘core’ (£137) tests for 60 foods, ‘essential’ (£207) covers 200 and the ‘complete body’ (£239) checks for 209. The company says the middle one is its most popular. So I placed my order for that very test and a couple of days later it was with me at home. In theory it’s pretty simple. Doing a food intolerance test A kit arrives that contains everything you need to do the test and then send it off to the lab. Following the instructions - see founder Ricky Singh demonstrating it in the video above - you use the pin prick to draw blood, which you then squeeze into a vial. I didn’t find it quite so simple, struggling as I did to create enough blood to fill the tube. Years of being a cold-hearted journalist? Perhaps. Anyway, my wife had to help milk my finger, essentially, to get enough. But we got there. After that it’s a simple case of packing it up as per the instructions and sending it off. Supply Life says this can take a week or so, but a couple of days later my results came through. Everything is accessed via your online account, as well as being sent via email. Getting the test results A nine-page report awaited me. As I said, as someone who’s never had to think too much about what he can and can’t eat, this was something of a moment of truth. Would it be the end to my carefree days? Well, yes, in a word. The report marks antibody levels for each food and food group as either normal (green), borderline (yellow) or elevated (red). Needless to say, green is all good; you can keep eating those foods without fear. Red is a problem - these are the foods you’re reacting to and should consider reducing or eliminating your consumption of. Opening the report, I did feel a slight trepidation. What if it said my favourite foods were bad news? What if, heaven forbid, I was allergic to beer or something? It didn’t bear thinking about. It turns out my trepidation was somewhat warranted. Top of my list of intolerances was egg whites, which are present in many, many, foods. Superb. Next was gliadin - a component of gluten found in bread. It’s the primary trigger for celiac disease. From there, in order of reactivity, were barley, soya bean, brewer’s yeast, couscous, spelt, baker’s yeast, orange, wheat, durum wheat, cow’s milk, malt and agar agar, which is a vegan alternative to gelatine used as a stabiliser, thickener, or gelling agent in foods. So yeah. Quite a few of my favourite things are in trouble there. Eggs, bread, beer, pasta, milk, yoghurt and anything else with cow’s milk in it were potentially causing my issues. Sheesh. The party might be over. However, nobody is saying I can’t eat these things, but what they are saying is that cutting them out and seeking alternatives would not be a bad idea. Meal plan and nutritionist chat To this end, Supply Life offers two more things as part of the process. One is a meal plan and the other is a follow-up call with a nutritionist. This was the reassuring bit. I don’t have to do away with all the things I love. It was a really useful call. Catalina talked me through the key things, starting with the egg whites and gluten as the main areas to focus on. The idea is to practice a 90/10 rule. That means cutting the problem foods out most of the time, but not being afraid to enjoy a treat when you go for a meal out, for example. I also interpreted it as tailoring it to your own situation somewhat. For example, I love pasta but I don’t actually eat it that often, so it’s unlikely to be a problem for me. Likewise beer; as much as I enjoy a pint, I maybe have half a dozen in a month these days - I’m more of a wine guy at home now. Anyway, back to egg whites and gluten. Catalina said it was pretty much impossible to avoid everything that contains egg whites, so to concentrate on limiting the consumption of eggs themselves, as well as egg-heavy things like mayo. With gluten, it’s a case of looking for gluten-free options. I’m not sure I’m going to go that far, but I have, as mentioned, already cut my bread consumption in half. Oranges are fine, as I don’t like them, but I will swap out my morning OJ for a different juice. Cow’s milk is probably the other biggie - I have multiple cups of tea every day, have cheese pretty much every day because it’s one of life’s great pleasures and yoghurt on fruit as a pudding quite a lot as well. So it’s over to almond or oat drink in my tea, alternative cheeses such as goat’s cheese and perhaps a vegan yoghurt alternative. Catalina gave me plenty of alternatives to think about during our chat and on her follow-up email as well, right down to specific brands. The suggestion is to cut out the problem foods (subject to the 90/10 rule) for a period of six to nine months to see whether it changes how you feel. You can reintroduce the eliminated foods one at a time to see if it goes OK, helping to narrow down further what might be the culprit or culprits in your particular case. A pretty enlightening experience overall. Whichever way you look at it, doing a test like this is likely to be life-changing in some way for pretty much everyone. Whether you pay for one or pursue it through your doctor, I'd recommend it to everyone. Now it’s time to take action based on all of this and see what difference it makes. I shall report back sometime in 2027.