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Testing for Food Intolerance: New Markets in the Age of Biocapital

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Abstract

Testing for food allergy/intolerance is a rapidly expanding market. We present an exploration of the efforts of one of the market leading companies in this sector to promote and justify their product in the face of considerable opposition from conventional medicine, as well as a range of alliances with patient groups, so-called ‘lifestyle gurus’ and their customers. In extracting the latent value of an immunoglobin called IgG, testing companies engage with and extend entrepreneurial patienthood and new forms of pastoral expertise in their efforts to identify and manage a group of low-level chronic conditions that resonate with contemporary social unease about the hazards of modernity. Rather than foregrounding novelty and hope, we found that a great deal of emphasis was placed upon establishing conventionality with business practice and scientific method, and relief from the past. We also found that the local circuits and networks of engagement, in which the company operated to secure their reputation and extend their market, were vitally important. We end by reflecting upon the implications of our analysis for contemporary scholarship on biocapitalism.

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Notes

  1. 1 Immunoglobulins (antibodies) are proteins produced by plasma cells (or B-cells, a type of lymphocyte), which are designed to control the immune response in extracellular fluids by binding to substances in the body that are recognized as foreign antigens. Each Ig unit is made up of two heavy chains and two light chains and has two antigen-binding sites. Antibodies are diverse, with more than 1010 possible variations, yet each antibody is designed to recognize only a specific antigen. Initially bound to B-cells, upon encountering its specific antigen, an antibody/antigen complex stimulates the B-cell to produce copies of the antibody with the aid of helper T-cells. The new antibodies, which are all designed to recognize the infecting antigen, are released into the intercellular fluid where they bind to the infecting antigen, identifying it for destruction by phagocytes and the complement system. Immunoglobulins also play a central role in allergies, when they bind to antigens that are not necessarily a threat to health and provoke an inflammatory reaction. There are five main types of antibody: IgA; IgD; IgE; IgG; and IgM, of which IgA, IgG and IgM are the most common.

  2. 2 ESRC Award RES-000-23-1134.

  3. 3 See URL (accessed March 2009): www.gillianmckeith.info/yourbody/health/digestivedisorders/gillianmckeithfoodintolerances.php

  4. 4 See URL (accessed March 2009): www.patrickholford.com/content.asp?id_Content=1573; see also Holford and Braly (2005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT

    Anne Kerr

  2. Faculty of Law, Business, and Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ

    Brian Woods

  3. Department of Sociology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD

    Sarah Nettleton

  4. Department of Sociology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD

    Roger Burrows

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Kerr, A., Woods, B., Nettleton, S. et al. Testing for Food Intolerance: New Markets in the Age of Biocapital. BioSocieties 4, 3–24 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1745855209006401

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