This question is more "wishful thinking" resulting from the mind trying to turn a positive test into what might want to be called "low positive" or even the equivalent of negative. However from our experience, a positive antigliadin antibody of any degree is like a positive pregnancy test. When a pregnancy test is positive, you are not a little pregnant, you are pregnant. The same is true for gluten sensitivity.

There are several reasons why an antigliadin antibody test can be positive despite being on a gluten free diet. The most obvious reason is that there may be hidden gluten in the diet. Gluten is ubiquitous, and if a person does not prepare 100% of their own food, one can not guarantee no gluten intake. Hidden gluten in unsuspected sources or contaminating otherwise gluten-free foods is also possible. See similar questions...

All clinical laboratory tests must define a normal range that best distinguishes those with disease from those without. Depending on what range is used to define normal will determine how many people with disease will fall into the normal range, and conversely, how many people without disease will fall into the abnormal range. See similar questions...

Our antibody tests range numerically from a positive value of 10 to as high as 350 Units. The average positive value is about 45 Units. The "units" are based on the amount of antibody detected in the assay which is reflected by more color developing as the result of a color-generating chemical reaction. Thus, the more antibody present, the higher the units of positivity. See similar questions...

mentioned above, the numeric value of antibody is not necessarily a measure of severity of how your body is reacting to gluten, or the resultant damage of the reaction. This is because the main perpetrator of the immune response to gluten is not antibody but T lymphocytes (T cells) producing tissue-damaging chemicals called cytokines and chemokines. How much antibody is produced at the stimulus of T cells differs in different people. See similar questions...

An elevated anti-strep. titer (such as ASO or AntiDNAse-B) means the child has had a strep. infection sometime within the past few months, and his body created antibodies to fight the strep. bacteria. Some children create lots of antibodies and have very high titers (up to 2,000), while others have more modest elevations. The height of the titer elevation doesn't matter. Further, elevated titers are not a bad thing. See similar questions...

A positive antibody test could mean one of two things. It could mean that a person is infected with hepatitis C and is a chronic carrier. Or, it could mean that the person was infected with hepatits C but has cleared it from his or her body. An antibody test cannot tell anyone which of those two categories applies. Once infected, you will always have hepatitis C antibodies, and therefore will always test positive on a hepatitis C screening test. See similar questions...

Because production of antigliadin antibodies is under genetic control, your body continues to make these antibodies for an extended period after gluten is removed from the diet, albeit, in lesser quantities the longer gluten is removed from the diet. Research has shown that these antibodies continue to be produced at lower levels for months, even 1-2 years after gluten is removed from the diet. See similar questions...

Gluten is a protein which holds most flours together and is harmful to folks whom have celiac disease, which is a lack of the enzyme necessary to digest gluten, causing the small intestine's ability to absorb nutrients to be impaired by wheat protein from gluten, barley, rye, and oats (to name a few). Flours that are suitable for a gluten free diet include; brown rice, corn and amaranth flours. When baking with these flours, you have to substitute the bonding affect of the gluten with guar gum. See similar questions...

Optimal levels of water fluoridation means finding the right balance between putting enough fluoride in the water to maximize the benefits of fluoride exposure while minimizing potential to contribute to dental fluorosis. See similar questions...

Especially in premenopausal women, elevated CA-125 can mean any of several benign conditions, or a "false positive," or ovarian cancer or another type of cancer. See similar questions...

It means that the product does not contain any wheat products such as breadcrumbs or rusk. Gluten free sausages are suitable for coeliacs. They are often made with 100% meat with no filler, as such are often excellent sausages. See similar questions...

Not necessarily, you should consult your physician. Gluten-free foods are foods safe for persons with celiac disease. They have none or very low levels of the 'gluten' proteins that could be harmful to persons with celiac disease. Celiac disease is a t-cell mediated reaction. Wheat allergies involve an IgE-mediated reaction to the wheat proteins albumin and globulin fractions. In rare situations, gluten could also induce an IgE-mediated reaction. See similar questions...

Since there are no established guidelines on homocysteine testing, this should be left up to the individual practitioner. However, providing baseline and follow-up homocysteine levels will encourage pateints to continue their vitamin therapy, and improve compliance. Monitoring homocysteine levels may help identify which patients need improvement with their vitamin therapy. See similar questions...

noted above, when screening outpatients, a normal NTproBNP effectively rules out CHF. In this population, an elevated NTproBNP would dictate follow-up testing with more definitive (specific) tests for CHF. Probably not. Even though a normal value still rules out CHF very effectively, a mildly elevated value may well be unrelated to the acute episode. See similar questions...

There is no formal specification, but here is a rough description (settings are always cumulative, so 5 displays everything 4 does): See similar questions...