Food intolerance test transformed my health (From The Northern Echo)

Food intolerance test transformed my health

5:57pm Monday 12th December 2011 in Health

The saying goes, you are what you eat. In Rebecca Atkinson’s case, what she was eating was causing her a lot of grief. Health Editor Barry Nelson hears how she was able to get on top of her problems.

A REMARKABLE change has come over fashion designer Rebecca Atkinson recently. Only two years ago, the 36-year old, from Richmond, North Yorkshire, was overweight, permanently exhausted and battling constant fatigue.

“I used to just work and sleep. I had no social life at all and if I did go out with friends, I would suffer for it later,” recalls Rebecca.

At one stage, because of abdominal bloating, Rebecca was petrified she might have ovarian cancer. “Bloating is one of the symptoms and nobody seemed to be able to tell me what was causing it,” she says.

Rebecca had suffered from health problems as a teenager and when she was 30 she was diagnosed with coeliac disease, a condition caused by an allergic reaction to gluten, which is found in drinks and food containing wheat and rye.

Giving up gluten helped, but a few years later her health deteriorated, her weight went up and conventional medics seemed not to know what was wrong or how to tackle her illness.

That’s when a friend suggested that she should try the YorkTest Food Intolerance Programme.

She sent off for a home-testing kit, which involves providing a few drops of blood for analysis.

This £9.99 First Step Test is designed to flag up any food intolerance.

In Rebecca’s case, it tested positive and she was advised to go for the full YorkTest programme to pinpoint the foodstuffs to which she is allergic. “I found that, apart from gluten, I was also allergic to cow’s milk, butter, eggs, sugar and yeast,” says Rebecca.

SHE admits it was hard cutting out these foods, but two years on her health has been transformed. “All the symptoms have gone. The fatigue has gone. I feel as if I have got my life back,” she says.

“I can now cope with running my own business, my busy workload and having a social life – at last – with my friends. It means I can just cope with life, generally.”

Rebecca, who designs and makes fashionwear for her own company, Applegarth Couture, wishes she had consulted YorkTest years ago. “I had loads of different tests through my doctor until we got to the stage where the NHS was unable to help me.”

Her staple diet is now “good quality meat and veg” and she is very careful what she eats.

But the way that YorkTest allowed her to take charge of her health again leads Rebecca to think that much more creedence should be given by the NHS to the YorkTest programme.

“It is time the Government started to realise that the NHS should not just be dealing with the symptoms, but getting to the bottom of what is causing them,” she says The idea that just having a simple blood test could lead to a “cure” for so many unpleasant symptoms was very persuasive, she adds.

Despite the success of the YorkTest approach, the science behind it is still not accepted by many doctors.

However, popular TV health pundit, Dr Hilary Jones, is a supporter. He says: “When you take your pet to the vet, the first thing they ask you is what have you been feeding him. When you go to the doctor it’s not a question asked – and it can often be the root cause of the problem.”

YorkTest is also recommended by the charity Allergy UK.

• For more information, visit yorktest.com or call 0800-074-6185