Another one from Jessica, “In reference to the second Cyrex Array 10 case from Week 5, if the direct Cyrex 8 were to come back positive, would this mean that beta glucan needs to be removed for a long period and then introduced or removed forever like gluten?”
Chris: The same answer here and even more. In this case, anything that comes up on Array 10, I would never tell a patient that they have to remove it for the rest of their life, and, in fact, as I mentioned in the curriculum, I don’t even necessarily tell them they have to remove it then. In the short term, I’d say, “You’re showing some reactivity to these foods. I don’t think this testing is perfect yet, so it makes sense to probably remove these foods from your diet for a period of time and then add them back in and see if you have any observable reaction.” Then, if they don’t, I find it difficult to tell someone to remove otherwise healthy food from their diet if they have no observable reaction after they’ve taken it out and added it back in solely on the basis of these test results. I just think there’s still too much uncertainty to do that. The gluten intolerance testing is, I think, a little more specific. But when you’re talking about telling someone to remove strawberries or other kind of healthy whole foods for an extended period of time, then I think we need to be more circumspect.