Senna, Gianenrico, Gani, Federica, Leo, Gualtiero et al. · Recenti progressi in medicina · 2002
This review examined whether alternative medical tests can reliably diagnose food allergies and intolerances. The researchers found that popular tests like cytotoxic testing, hair analysis, applied kinesiology, and food IgG testing are not scientifically supported for diagnosing food problems. The authors warn patients and doctors to be cautious about these tests because following unnecessary restricted diets based on their results can be harmful, especially for children.
Many ME/CFS patients report gastrointestinal symptoms and food sensitivities that lead them to seek food allergy testing. This review is important because it documents that several widely-marketed alternative diagnostic tests lack scientific validity, helping patients avoid unnecessary dietary restrictions that could worsen nutritional status or delay investigation of actual underlying causes of their symptoms.
This review does not prove that food intolerances or sensitivities do not exist in ME/CFS patients, only that the alternative tests examined cannot reliably diagnose them. The review does not address what validated diagnostic methods should be used instead, nor does it establish whether any legitimate subset of ME/CFS patients might benefit from specific dietary modifications based on proper testing.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Senna, Gianenrico, Gani, Federica, Leo, Gualtiero, & Schiappoli, Michele (2002). [Alternative tests in the diagnosis of food allergies].. Recenti progressi in medicina. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12050918/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-senna-2002-alternative-tests,
author = {Senna, Gianenrico and Gani, Federica and Leo, Gualtiero and Schiappoli, Michele},
title = {[Alternative tests in the diagnosis of food allergies].},
journal = {Recenti progressi in medicina},
year = {2002},
note = {PubMed: 12050918},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/senna-2002-alternative-tests},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/senna-2002-alternative-tests
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