Bioresonance testing: quackery or legit?

[TJ_Fitz]

I recently purchased an allergy test from https://allergytest.co/ (the advanced test found on Groupon here), but didn't find out until after the fact that the test was a bioresonance test, not an actual scientific lab analysis.

Have any of you used bioresonance testing to good effect, or did I just waste my money?

On one hand, I'm pretty irritated that they didn't make it clear up front what they're doing, but on the other hand, I'm not sure if I wanted to know before buying. I'm sort of an odd duck, both strongly analytical AND strongly intuitive, and while the analytical part of me is really bothered that I spent good money on something hokey, the intuitive part of me still feels good about doing the testing. If I'd known it was bioresonance testing, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

 

[Remy]

I recently purchased an allergy test from https://allergytest.co/ (the advanced test found on Groupon here), but didn't find out until after the fact that the test was a bioresonance test, not an actual scientific lab analysis.

Have any of you used bioresonance testing to good effect, or did I just waste my money?

On one hand, I'm pretty irritated that they didn't make it clear up front what they're doing, but on the other hand, I'm not sure if I wanted to know before buying. I'm sort of an odd duck, both strongly analytical AND strongly intuitive, and while the analytical part of me is really bothered that I spent good money on something hokey, the intuitive part of me still feels good about doing the testing. If I'd known it was bioresonance testing, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

I haven't done it, but I have done my fair share of woo, so I say go for it, since you've already purchased it. Let us know what it says!

 

[Hip]

I recently purchased an allergy test from https://allergytest.co/

I am afraid allergytest.co seem to be a scam and con trick website. There is no way you can detect allergies by a hair test. That they are using a hair test alone will tell you it is fake. But add in the fact the are testing by a bioresonance machine, which is a known pseudoscience, and you can be sure the whole thing is a fraud.


It interesting that they have chosen a .co rather than a .com domain name. The .co is beyond US legal jurisdiction, making it hard to legally take the website down.

And if you look on Google Street View for the head office address they give on the website, 10685-B Hazelhurst Drive, Houston, it does not look anything like a head office (it looks like a warehouse).


If you paid by credit card, you could contact the CC company and explain that allergytest.co are scammers, and they will likely refund you.

 

[TJ_Fitz]

I am afraid allergytest.co seem to be a scam and con trick website. There is no way you can detect allergies by a hair test. That they are using a hair test alone will tell you it is fake. But add in the fact the are testing by a bioresonance machine, which is a known pseudoscience, and you can be sure the whole thing is a fraud.


It interesting that they have chosen a .co rather than a .com domain name. The .co is beyond US legal jurisdiction, making it hard to legally take the website down.

And if you look on Google Street View for the head office address they give on the website, 10685-B Hazelhurst Drive, Houston, it does not look anything like a head office (it looks like a warehouse).


If you paid by credit card, you could contact the CC company and explain that allergytest.co are scammers, and they will likely refund you.

In their defense, the "testing" is done at a lab in the UK, and the Texas address is probably just the US collection and shipping office, so it looks right for that sort of thing. I do have a friend who recommended the service and was pleased with the results she got, so I'm not going to ask for a refund. I do agree, bioresonance testing is definitely pseudoscience, but it could still provide useful information, even if the method isn't scientifically validated. I've spent more money than that on less reputable treatments, so I'll chalk put it down as a learning experience if the results aren't helpful. :-/

 

[Hip]

Up to you, but if you do have a food intolerance, you may never discover it by this hair testing.

A few decades ago I actually did an elimination diet to test for food intolerances, and this is a gold standard way to test for intolerance, although it does take 2 or 3 months.

It was through that elimination diet that I discovered I was gluten intolerant (and this was at a time when almost nobody had heard of gluten intolerance). By avoiding gluten thereafter, it made substantial improvements in my life. So it is worth exploring whether you have food intolerances.

Food allergy is not the same as food intolerance though: food allergy can be a life-threatening reaction to food, such as say peanut allergy which can rapidly cause inflammation of the airways making it hard to breathe. Food intolerance is a milder condition, and one where symptoms may not occur immediately, but may start to appear several hours after eating the trigger food.

Allergy is caused by IgE antibodies reacting to the food or substance, whereas food intolerance does not involve IgE, but it may involve IgG.

You can only detect IgE and IgG by blood test; these antibodies are not found in the hair.

However, even proper blood tests for food intolerance are unreliable; the only reliable way to test for food intolerance is the elimination diet, which costs you nothing, apart from the effort involved in doing it.

The NHS website says:

There are no tests for food intolerances. The only way to know if you have one is to monitor your symptoms and the food you eat. See what happens when you cut out the suspected food for a while, and then reintroduce it back into your diet.

In contrast to food intolerances, testing for allergy is more reliable. The NHS website details some tests, which include blood tests, pin prick tests, patch tests, and food challenge tests.



Regarding hair tests for allergies and intolerances:

From the BBC website:

There are a few companies that sell tests for allergies. Some claim to be able to do this from samples such as a hair sample, others from things like your grip strength. None of these have any scientific validity at all. Only a blood sample can be used to identify an allergy.

Another website:

Hair Analysis Testing in Allergy

Hair is analysed for allergies in two ways. First of all, the hair is tested for toxic levels of heavy metals such as Lead, Mercury and Cadmium and then deficiencies of Selenium, Zinc, Chromium, Manganese and Magnesium. There is no scientific evidence to support the hypothesis that these heavy metals have any bearing on allergic diseases. Hair samples are usually sent away for analysis and numerous studies have failed to find any accuracy in hair analysis diagnosing allergies [1]. Another hair test is called Dowsing. The dowser swings a pendulum over the hair and an allergy is diagnosed if an altered swing is noted.

Looks like https://allergytest.co also have websites at:

https://www.testmyallergy.com
http://www.testyourintolerance.com

 

[TJ_Fitz]

I've received the results. They indicate that I'm deficient in chromium, lithium, molybdenum, and vitamin B1. They also indicate an intolerance to navy beans, cooked cabbage, cooked cauliflower, raw cherries, dates hazelnuts, turnips, wheat, vinegar/acetic acid, and a few other obscure things. I'm quite surprised not to see dairy products or eggs on the list.

While I admit that it's pseudoscience, I'm going to give it a try and avoid the intolerances and supplement with the deficiencies, and see what happens.

 

[TJ_Fitz]

This week, I've been supplementing with a B-complex and the minerals the test indicated were deficient. Admittedly, I've been feeling a bit better over the last couple of days, but I've also confounded my results by starting NAC this week. Honestly, I suspect that the NAC is doing more to help right now, as it is a powerful detoxifier (i.e. precursor to glutathione).

 

[TJ_Fitz]

Ok, so I know this forum isn't about depression, but the lithium supplementation is DEFINITELY making a big, positive difference in mine: it's basically wiped out my depression symptoms! The only problem there is that taking too gives me insomnia. I started taking 5 mg lithium orotate last Monday, 1/15/2018, and while my mood and productivity increased significantly starting two days later (backfilling on my deficiency?), I've been lucky to get seven hours of sleep a night. Two days ago, 1/24, I realized that it was the lithium causing the problem with sleep, so I skipped it that day. I took another whole tablet yesterday, and slept well last night because I hadn't taken one the day before, I think. I managed to cut one in half, and I'll take those halves today and tomorrow, but the first tablet I tried to cut just disintegrated, so I'm just going to try taking a whole tablet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week.

I stopped taking the NAC for a couple of days, and while other symptoms got worse again, the depression symptoms did not.