{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Mikkipedia","title":"Live Blood Analysis, Skin Scanners and IgG Tests: What They Actually Measure","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1143,"description":"Episode Summary\nIn this episode, Mikki looks at three tests clients keep bringing to her that sound scientific but don't deliver what they promise: live and dry blood analysis, skin carotenoid scanners and IgG food intolerance panels. For each one she explains what the test actually measures, what it is sold as measuring, and why the gap between the two matters when people end up on a raft of supplements or a long list of foods to avoid.\nShe also walks through a 2025 randomised, sham-controlled trial of an IgG-guided elimination diet in IBS. The effect was real but modest, and the sham group did well too. Mikki explains why that trial doesn't justify the commercial panels sold online. She finishes with the tests and approaches that are worth your money if you have gut symptoms, fatigue or suspected food reactions.\nKey Topics\nWhy live and dry blood analysis is appealing when your standard bloods are \"in range\" but you still feel unwell, and why what practitioners point to on the slide is clotting and drying artefact\nBlood pH is tightly regulated at around 7.4, so a test claiming to show your blood is \"acidic\" isn't measuring anything real\nRobert O. Young, author of The pH Miracle and a prominent promoter of live blood analysis, was convicted in the US of practising medicine without a licence\nSkin carotenoid scanners use a genuine technique and measure a real biomarker, but the score mostly reflects fruit and vegetable intake and says nothing about iron, B12, vitamin D, zinc, thyroid or overall antioxidant status\nThe conflict of interest when the scanner's manufacturer also sells the supplements that raise your score\nIgE versus IgG: why IgG to foods largely tracks what you eat, and why rising IgG4 signals tolerance rather than intolerance\nWhy ASCIA, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology advise against IgG food testing\nWhat the 2025 IgG-guided elimination diet trial in IBS did and didn't...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/5uUjJw6NUZC5FWMQgLCI47ibFa6tBB2C0z8A_feCZiY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wNjI2/NTEwMjAyMWQ2M2Iy/ZjliYjA4ZGFhMTBh/N2E2Ni5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}