Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mini-Mikkipedia on a Monday, and I want to chat about a few of the things I come across which clients talk to me about that just seem a little bit out of the realms of actual science, yet they sound very science-y.

And what I'm referring to are sort of tests that you can do, be it a live blood analysis, or a read of the carotenoids in your skin, iridology is another one that comes to mind. What else? Oh, the IgG immunology tests. And people can spend quite a bit of money on this testing, but what is it actually telling us?

And I had a client just the other week, and she was telling me that she'd done some live and dry blood analysis.

She'd had a clinic, and subsequent to that, she was on a bunch of different supplements. So in my head, I'm like, I don't think that this is legit, really. I mean, the supplements that she was sold were legit supplements, of course. Well, not of course, they were.

But the reasons for her taking the supplements were based on the results of this test. And I'm like, I don't know about this. And the test itself isn't that cheap. I think it's about $110 for the dry blood analysis.

Live blood analysis is, in fact, probably a little bit more expensive. And it claims to assess your liver, your immune system, parasites, candida, nutrient deficiencies, and emotional or adrenal stress. This is from a dried drop of blood. You get a report back with sort of supplement and herb and homeopathy sort of recommendations.

And I think that it matters with regards to these tests and what they're telling people. As I said, this person now has a raft of supplements that they're taking, yet we don't really know whether she needs those supplements based on the results of that particular test.

And these tests appeal to people who feel unwell and haven't had answers looking at sort of traditional Western medicine. So their bloods may be, quote unquote, in range, but they're still exhausted.

They're still like, I don't know, bloated, have digestive issues, hormone challenges, things which are pretty common in midlife. And if you've got someone spending time with you, showing you your own blood on a screen, it feels pretty thorough. But the thing is, is that the test itself is not legit, basically.

So live and dry blood analysis, it is a finger prick drop under a dark field microscope, or it's layered and dried on a slide.

And the practitioner interprets the stacking shapes and the specs. And what they say they see, i.e. poor digestion, dehydration, yeast, parasites, toxins, acidity, deficiencies, are actually artifacts of the slide.

Red cells clump and change shape as the blood sits and dries. Fibrin forms naturally when the blood touches glass. Parasites are debris, platelets, and fibroids.

And, you know, they've done some trials on this, using this technique on, you know, one of them were two trained practitioners. They were blinded. They had the same blood samples, and they couldn't agree with each other as to what these samples meant. And they couldn't even agree with themselves on a second look.

And an Otago hematologist, actually, who sort of reported in the NZ Herald in 2025, found that there were at least a dozen clinics.

Offering this live and dry blood analysis. So, I mean, because, you know, there is, there's one called Hemaview, and there are a bunch of different clinics around the country doing it. And it may be in the realm of sort of naturopathic or homeopathic. I don't think many naturopaths with their salt will actually be doing this. But, you know, they are sort of provided with the whole package, the microscope, the analysis kit, the reporting software, and then, of course, the bunch of supplements in order to, you know, do the analysis.

To sort of sell you what they say the test is showing. And Otago hematologist actually showed some sort of visual as to what you were looking at when you were looking at these dried blood or live blood analyses.

And if you look at the blood in a certain way on a certain part of the film, that shifts what that interpretation could be. And, in fact, interesting side history note is that a big promoter of this is Robert O. Young.

And he has a book called The pH Miracle. And he was convicted of practicing medicine without a license in the US. And he admitted in court that he wasn't a hematologist. He was not a microbiologist or a trained scientist, which is really no, no surprise when I'm thinking about what this actual test is.

And again, this is a test that people are just like handing money over, and it's really not telling them anything that the test is claiming to tell them.

So do be mindful of that. And one last thing I'll add, this test can't measure acidity in the blood, your blood pH is tightly regulated at 7.4. And honestly, if you were genuinely acidic, you'd be in hospital, you wouldn't be listening to this podcast.

Something else that I also see, and I will just mention it here, because someone asked me about this is what about that carotenoid scanner. And there are these around as well. There's the Pharmanex biophonotic scanner.

S3 or Everest, or there's this research grade Vegemeter. And this isn't actually in the same category, but it's sort of adjacent, if you like. So this particular device shines blue light at a particular intensity. And if you've got a lot of carotenoid molecules, this will shift that blue light to green.

So the device counts the green photons and gives you a skin carotenoid score. And this resonance Raman spectrum.

And the effect is specific to carotenoids. And skin carotenoids are a genuine published biomarker. And versions of these scanners are used in actual research, including registered clinical trials, measuring skin carotenoids as an outcome.

The problem though, with this is that it's an interpretive leap. It's not the sort of physics or science involved. It measures one class of compounds that largely reflects how much fruit and veg you eat.

S3 or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest, or Everest.

It doesn't tell you anything about iron, B12, magnesium, vitamin D, zinc, thyroid, or your antioxidant defense system, or your total body's antioxidant status.

So this is not what this machine can test. But I do hear this a lot that you can use this carotenoid count to determine some of these other factors.

The other thing just worth mentioning, the S3 is a new skin product.

And NuSkin is a multi-level marketing company selling supplements.

The company's own validation includes a study showing its LifePak supplement raises scores after 12 weeks.

So a device whose manufacturer sells the thing that improves your score, that's a conflict of interest, right?

And even if that measurement itself is legitimate, honestly, if you want to know if someone is eating enough vegetables, you would just ask them.

They do not need to be paying.

It's out of pocket for a test that tells you of one particular feature of a high vegetable and fruit diet.

So I did just want to also mention that as well.

One other test that I think is absolutely worth talking about is the IgG food intolerance panels.

What it is, is again, it's a finger prick or a blood draw.

And there is a panel of anywhere from 40 to 200 plus foods.

And there's a color-coded report that comes.

It's back, green, amber, and red.

Red foods go on an elimination list, often for three to six months.

Usually there is some supplement or gut repair protocol alongside it.

And it is sold under a lot of brand names through health practitioners, pharmacies, and increasingly actually direct-to-consumer online.

The thing is, is with immunology, IgE is the antibody involved in true allergy.

It cross-links on mast cells, triggers histamine release, hives.

There are potential dangers obviously involved with IgE immunology, and it is testable.

IgG is a different class entirely.

It's the normal antibody response to something your immune system has encountered.

You eat food, some intact protein fragments cross the gut wall, your immune system makes IgG.

That's your healthy gut doing its job.

So the numbers on the report largely track.

With what you eat, if you eat eggs and dairy most morning, those numbers are going to light up.

And as stated by the European Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology body, along with the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology,

they both state that detecting food-specific antibody in someone's serum doesn't necessarily indicate allergy or intolerance,

but rather a physiological.

This is the biological response of the immune system to food exposure, and for IgG, this

may simply be a normal human response.

And the detail really comes under the marketing.

So IgG4 is associated with tolerance.

In oral immunotherapy, where people are deliberately desensitized to a food, IgG4 goes up as they

become tolerant.

A high IgG4 to peanut in someone being treated for peanut allergy is a sign of high IgG4.

It's a sign of progress.

Selling a rising IgG4 as evidence of intolerance inverts what the antibody actually signals.

And that European Allergy Group, there was a task force, they concluded that IgG4 testing

to foods is irrelevant for working up food allergy or intolerance, and shouldn't be performed

for food-related complaints, noting many samples come back positive with no matching symptoms

and that there were no controlled studies of its diagnosis.

This is a sign of progress.

Selling a rising IgG4 as evidence of intolerance inverts what the antibody actually signals.

And that European Allergy Group, there was a task force, they concluded that IgG4 testing

to foods is irrelevant for working up food allergy or intolerance inverts what the antibody

actually signals.

And that European Allergy Group, there was a task force, they concluded that IgG4 testing

to foods is irrelevant for working up food allergy or intolerance inverts what the antibody

actually signals.

And the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology in Allergy, which is a professional body

for clinical immunology and allergy specialists in Australia and New Zealand, also do not

recommend it.

So I think that is absolutely worth noting.

However, what I would say is that there is a trial in the Gastroenterology Journal,

and that's by Singh and Cochran.

in 2025 and it was a randomized double blind sham controlled trial across eight centers and people

with IBS irritable bowel syndrome who were positive to at least one food on an 18 food

IgG assay were assigned to either an antibody guided elimination diet or just a sham diet for

eight weeks and a sham is just a fake version of a treatment designed to look and feel identical

to the real thing so the participant can't tell what they got it's sort of like a placebo

equivalent for something that's not a pill and in this particular trial with the sham diet everyone

was told to eliminate foods the experimental group eliminated the foods their IgG test flagged

the sham group eliminated the same number of foods but once their test hadn't flagged so both

groups were doing an elimination diet of equal difficulty but nobody knew which was which and

that

design isolates the thing you actually want to test so without it any improvement could be

explained by just eating differently paying attention cutting alcohol or takeaways or just

expecting to feel better or the ordinary sort of waxing and waning of of IBS and the symptoms it

brings with the sham diet the only difference between the groups is whether the specific foods

were chosen by the antibody test so 59 percent of the experimental group did hit a 30 percent

grade

of reduction in abdominal pain versus 42 percent on the sham diet and that was a significant finding

bigger effects in constipation predominant in mixed IBS but the fact that 42 percent of

participants also found benefit from foods that weren't flagged on their on their assay

is super interesting so sometimes just being part of a trial it gives you that sort of placebo

effect nearly half of the people who eliminated essentially all the foods that were not flagged

did that stain them from information because again we all experience that IBS

medicine already has образом and yet another example that's amazing is that so every when

we're trying to rule over a toy toy for example a toy toy does not always will hit Gomorrah

yourself we've also seen more evidence from studies showed that if you pick a toy toy

and then get rid of the original one and then take a sample of every single one of those

徒y knife not only did this shift and there were pain of berterirdy in the body but in

that lab as well you saw about 38% of the fetals Salt praise to다sin conventions whichaze

elimination trial in people with an already diagnosed condition. And that's quite different.

So nobody is claiming it detects intolerance, just choosing where to start. And the effect is real,

but it is modest as well. 59.6% versus 42.1%, 17 percentage points in quite a small trial.

So roughly one extra responder for every six people treated. So as I said, the sham also did

well, which tells you a lot about elimination diets generally. And I will say an elimination

diet is actually gold standard when we're looking at sort of gut related symptoms. So I think in

fact, the results of this particular trial, if anyone sort of brings it to me and saying, look,

this was a successful use of the IgG intolerance panel, they were actually looking at different

things. And I guess the harm here with this is that there is some unnecessary restriction occurs.

So people commonly walk

out with 15 to 30 foods they think they need to avoid. Often these are the ones they eat the most

because that's what this IgG test flags. And those foods will be mostly embedded in their routine.

And even if they don't experience symptoms from these foods, they now believe that they are

intolerant to them. And there's also a nutritional and a social cost. So ASCIA, the Australasian

Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, names misdiagnosis,

digestive treatment and costly, often dangerous dietary restrictions, plus impacts on employment

and social functioning. They're not small things. And of course, let's not forget the food fear.

In midlife, particularly, women or anyone who's really already felt their body changed

now has a list of reactive foods that concede, you know, a potentially anxious relationship

with eating that may long outlast any diet. And then, you know, there may be a delay from getting

actual diagnosis. If there is something like celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease or

H. pylori or a thyroid problem, you know, six months on an elimination diet is six months of

never finding out by getting a proper diagnosis. And, you know, there is that false positive

feedback loop that that study I mentioned did highlight. Cut out most, your most eaten foods,

you often feel better initially and the test gets the credit. But potentially you've also cut out

volume, alcohol.

Ultra processed foods, late night eating, and, you know, you reintroduce these later and that

intolerance evaporates. So with these immunology tests, if you've got a true allergy, you would

get a history taken. Well, you'd go see a specialist first and foremost, history taken,

a skin prick or specific IgE interpreted by someone qualified. Testing without any sort of

history of an immediate reaction will generate or can generate some false positives. Obviously,

with celiac, you've got serology before removing gluten. You've got lactose and you've got breath

testing for lactose intolerance or a straightforward sort of structured trial. With IBS and bloating,

this is where having a supervised low FODMAP trial with reintroduction can be really helpful.

And it is time limited and designed to reduce the final restriction list rather than expand it.

And then as always, you want to just rule out things like iron deficiency,

low B12, thyroid, celiac, and do have a proper look at fiber, fluid, caffeine, alcohol,

and the pace with which you eat. Like all of these things impact on any of these digestive

issues that someone with some sensitivity can sort of experience. So those are just a couple

of things. You know, I had a few more, but I won't go down that route. This would make for a very long

podcast. But all that to say, you know, it's not that all of these tests that aren't properly

validated will always be useless at all. However, particularly with the IgG and that live blood

analysis, they have been around forever and people keep getting them done and spending their money

and then not giving them any useful information and potentially delaying what they could otherwise

be finding out about what's going on with them. So, you know, I just think save your money and go

and see an actual professional who can sort of work through your history and take actual blood

tests as a start.

To sort of figure out what might be going on. And, you know, there are great reputable doctors

out there, naturopaths out there. Sometimes there are things, obviously, I know how to interpret

blood test results. So you've got people out there that will not take you down the path of

spending several hundred dollars. All right, guys, that's all I've got for you. I'm curious

as to your thoughts on whether you've had these tests and what you've found. I'm over on Instagram

threads and X at Mikki Williden Facebook at Mikki Williden nutrition.

Head to my website, mikkiwilliden.com. Go right down to the bottom of the page,

pop your email in the little box and then jump on my weekly email list.

I'll chat to you next week. See you later.