Food allergies are very specific, immune globulin mediated food reactions. The body, though, may have many different types of food reactions.
Food “intolerances” are inflammatory responses that can affect every cell, and hence every system of the body. Some of these reactions are acquired, e.g. from over-eating a food. My mother, for example, developed an intolerance to tomatoes after eating a peck of tomatoes every day during the summers of her childhood.
Other intolerances are innate, i.e. we are born with them. These innate intolerances are called constitutional food intolerances.
If you have a tremendous genetic inheritance, live in a pristine environment, and have absolutely no stress in your life, you may be able to eat your constitutional food intolerances without any health problems. Most people, though, suffer from the effects of a polluted environment, high stress, denatured food, and/of poor genetic inheritance, and the food intolerances have a major impact on their health.
The constitutional food intolerance/O.G. Carroll test uses a small blood sample to test for food intolerances.
Dr. O.G. Carroll
The Carroll food intolerance method of testing, often referred to as the O.G. Carroll test OR the constitutional food intolerance test, is not a standard diagnostic test. The test is not used to diagnose disease; instead, it helps to understand the digestive and metabolic capacity of a patient’s body.
Dr Otis G. Carroll practiced from 1917 to 1962 in Spokane, Washington. His work was based on the Thomsonian system of healing, which favored a simple vegetarian diet, hydrotherapy, homeopathy, physiotherapy, and botanical medicine. Dr Carroll developed constitutional hydrotherapy, as well as his method of food intolerance evaluation, which we now call the O.G. Carroll (or simply the Carroll) test.
Dr Carroll passed on his therapy and evaluation methods only to Dr Leo Scott and Dr Harold Dick. Dr Scott did not instruct anyone else. Dr Harold Dick taught Dr Jared Zeff and Dr Letitia Dick-Kronenberg, his daughter. These two naturopathic physicians have continued to train other doctors, passing on Dr. O.G. Carroll’s methods and wisdom. Dr. Judith Boice learned the food intolerance testing method from Dr. Jared Zeff and Dr. Letitia Dick-Kronenberg.
Dr. Albert Abrams’ Diagnostic Techniques
Dr Carroll’s practice in Spokane was very busy. He had great success in treating acute and chronic health conditions, including tuberculosis and multiple sclerosis. Despite his success with his patients, though, he was unable to help his chronically ill son, Bill. This stimulated his continual search for better methods of treatment, which led him to the work at-of Albert Abrams, MD, a professor of physiology at Stanford University (Stanford, California).
Abrams had been experimenting with new techniques in diagnosis. Dr Carroll modified Abrams’ work to devise a method of evaluating foods that are not well digested or metabolized by the body. Poorly digested foods inflame the digestive tract leading to “leaky gut syndrome,” poor absorption, compromised elimination, and ultimately systemic inflammation.
Through this work, Dr Carroll discovered that his son was intolerant to fruit, which he had always thought was a perfect and healing food for everyone. He removed fruit from Bill’s diet, and for the first time his son was well.
By using this method of food intolerance evaluation for all of his patients, Dr Carroll discovered common categories of food intolerances. Most patients were found to be intolerant of one of the following groups: dairy, egg, meat, fruit, potato, or sugar. In addition, Dr Carroll discovered that most patients had difficulty digesting one or more combinations of food groups. The most common problematic combinations he observed were fruit with sugar; potato with grain; dairy with grain; fruit with grain; and sugar with grain. Today we are discovering other additional food intolerances.
The Carroll test is different from allergy tests that are used to determine which foods or substances may be overwhelming the immune system at a particular moment in time. The Carroll evaluation determines an innate imbalance in the genetic predisposition to digest particular foods or food groups. These results appear to be lifelong. With rare exceptions, constitutional food intolerances usually do not change over time.
Dr. Boice offers this service only to her patients.
