Son is Celiac, spouse is Celiac. Had dtr tested (3 yrs old) through Enterolab and her tests came back in normal range for gluten, soy, and casein. The disclaimer did say that 1 in 500 people do not have the ability to produce IgA antibodies, so she must be one of these people. I think this because she had the ELISA IgG blood test for food sensitivities and it came back positive reactions to 24 different foods, including Wheat and cow's milk. My question is, how do you know for sure if someone doesn't have the ability to produce IgA antibodies. Is there a test? This is all so confusing.

Yes, there is a blood test for IgA deficiency. You can ask your doctor to run it along with the full Celiac panel.

Is that the IgA Serum level that will demonstrate if you are IgA deficient?

Thanks for clarifying. Not sure if the doctor will do the blood test, just for me because I am curious. Especially, now that her IgG was positive, I guess it doesn't really matter at this point that the IgA was negative. I have a feeling he would say, "we have the info we need to make changes" and it is probably not necessary to have 3 y.o. go through a blood draw again. I personally would like to know for sure, because I am trying to explain all this to family members and they think I am crazy now. Because, first I said her tests were negative and now they are positive. I tried to explain to them that it was testing for two different antibodies, one in the blood and one in the stool. I feel like they are doubting me now, but I guess I just need to listen to my "gut". (no pun intended, ha ha) Thanks for the support!

http://www.celiacdiseasecenter.columbia.ed...C05-Testing.htm

http://www.uchospitals.edu/pdf/uch_007935.pdf

Great sites, thank you very much.

The IgA deficiency is a tricky thing.
Let me try and explain from my experience.

Mayo Clinic results were "normal" for IgA and our pedi only requested the TTG test w total serum. Mayo only uses one lab range for IgA screening, my son's TTG was negative.

I went to a Pedi GI and he retested with Prometheus Labs.
IgA total serum was not normal, but not techincally deficient. The lab values by Prometheus are by age ranges, so it was able to work better for a small child. The Pedi GI would not see that the IgA was low and therefore we had likely false negatives.

So, I took these results to Dr. Fasano, the "authority". He confirmed my suspicions that the Total Serum IgA levels were not techincally deficient, however, they were so low they could not have given a positive reading for TTG IgA and the other 2 tests that work off of the IgA anitbody set.

My ds2 is IgG possitive and gene positive, with "low" IgA. Frankly, it was enough for me. And off the record Dr Fasano agreed the gluten-free diet was proof enough. By the time I got to Dr. F he'd been gluten-free for just shy of 6 months and had remarkable grown and weight gain despite his lack of appetite and adversion to food.

I opted not to do Entrolab tests for my other children b/c I had no way of knowing if they were too IgA deficient (or low). I think 10% of the Celiac population is IgA deficient.

EmmaQ,
Thanks for sharing your experience about IgA deficiency. Everything I've heard and read about Dr. Fasano is AWESOME and your story backs that up!