My Honest 5Strands Review After Using It Twice — 7 Years Apart (And What It Means If You Have EoE)

By Jen Paganessi | Not sponsored — I bought both tests myself. This post contains affiliate links.

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I took a food sensitivity test back in 2019 and basically everything came back red.

I made changes, stayed consistent, and just retested — seven years later. Some things cleared completely. But I also had a whole new list show up that caught me totally off guard.

If you’ve been curious about 5Strands, or you have EoE (eosinophilic esophagitis) and you’re wondering if a hair strand intolerance test is even worth your time, I want to share what I actually found. Both times — and you can even see the actual reports in the video below.

What Is 5Strands?

5Strands has a lot of different tests available, but the one I took is called the Comprehensive Sensitivity and Imbalances Test. It uses bioresonance testing — basically, they read the energetic frequency signature of your hair and compare it against hundreds of items across four categories:

• Food intolerances
• Environmental sensitivities
• Nutritional imbalances
• Metal sensitivities

Important: This is not an allergy test. It doesn’t detect IgE antibodies and it can’t diagnose anything. If you have a known allergy, that doesn’t change based on these results. What 5Strands does is give you a snapshot of what your body is currently responding to — what’s creating stress on your system right now.

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How the Test Works

You order the kit at 5Strands.com. It shows up with a sample collection bag and a prepaid return envelope. You pull 10–15 strands of hair — root or no root, doesn’t matter — put them in the bag, and mail it back.

Results come back in about four days. You can access them as a PDF, through their app, or as a downloadable spreadsheet. I like the PDF so I can see everything at once, but the app is handy if you want to filter just your food results.

Results are organized into three levels:

• Level 3 — most significant response
• Level 2 — moderate
• Level 1 — mild
• No response = doesn’t show up at all

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My 2019 Results — When Everything Was Red

Back in 2019 I did the Adult Deluxe test. And when those results came back, the food section was… a lot.

Level 3 flags on most of the food section. Processed food additives, certain proteins, grains, dairy, spices. If you’ve ever gotten your results and thought “I literally cannot eat anything” — that was me. I know how that feels.

Here’s what I did: I used the Level 3 list as my starting point. Eliminated those foods for several weeks, then reintroduced them one at a time. That’s it. “Everything is red” is actually useful information when you treat it as a starting point and not a life sentence.

On the nutritional side, I was showing significant deficiencies in amino acids — specifically Histidine and Threonine. Histidine sent me down a research rabbit hole about amino acids and EoE that I’m still following years later.

And on the metals side — I had five things come back severe. I made some changes, switched out some cookware, paid attention. But food was where my real focus was.

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My 2026 Results — What Actually Changed

(Want to see the actual reports? I walk through both of them on screen in the video above.)

Seven years later, I did the Comprehensive Sensitivity and Imbalances Test. The first thing worth noting: this version tests significantly more items than 2019 did. So comparing the two isn’t always apples to apples — 2026 is simply measuring more.

That said, here’s what I found.

A lot of the 2019 food flags cleared. The additive reactions are mostly gone. Proteins and grains that were Level 3 seven years ago are now Level 1 or not showing up at all. The metals that were severe in 2019? Almost completely clear. Seven years of paying attention showed up in the data. Your body can shift — I want you to really hear that.

But new things showed up. And some of them surprised me.

My Level 3 foods in 2026:

• Almond (I eat these all the time — did not see this coming)
• Asparagus and Arugula
• All varieties of honey — buckwheat, clover, orange blossom, wildflower — every single one
• Maple Syrup
• Corn — which hides in so many places you don’t even realize
• Marine collagen (if you’re taking it thinking it’s a gut health win, this is worth knowing)
• Portabella and Reishi mushrooms
• Certain shellfish and sardines
• Xanthan Gum

I was putting almond milk in my coffee every single morning. Had no idea.

One thing that comes up a lot: “Why would my supplement show up as flagged?” 5Strands addresses this directly — it doesn’t always mean you’re intolerant to it. It can mean your body isn’t absorbing or processing it well. The form of the supplement matters, fillers matter, and underlying inflammation can actually block absorption. So a flagged supplement isn’t automatically “stop taking this” — it’s more like “let’s figure out why your body isn’t using it.”

Histidine is still Level 3 for me, both years. Consistent enough that I take it seriously. There’s a connection between histamine, mast cells, and EoE that keeps coming up in my research.

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What You Need to Know About 5Strands If You Have EoE

This is the part I really want to talk about, because if you have eosinophilic esophagitis, reading intolerance results the wrong way can send you down the wrong path.

I did this for a long time. I’d look at my Level 3 items and assume those were the things making my esophagus inflame. And that’s not actually how EoE works.

EoE is immune-mediated. Your esophagus fills with eosinophils — white blood cells — in response to triggers. Those triggers can be food, they can be environmental, and for a lot of us it’s both. And what triggers it shifts over time. Based on stress, the season, hormones, gut health. It’s not a fixed thing.

So when you’re looking at your Level 3 foods with EoE, the question isn’t “are these my EoE triggers?” The question is “what is my body currently working hard to process?” That’s a different question — and I think it’s the more useful one.

Environmental still shows up significant for me both years — animals, trees, cleaners, mold. That hasn’t really moved. And for EoE specifically, environmental triggers are real. A lot of us struggle more in spring and fall, and this is part of why.

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Is 5Strands Worth It? My Honest Take

Here’s where I land after doing this twice:

Yes — as one data point. Use your Level 3 foods as a starting elimination list. Remove them for 4–6 weeks. Pay attention to how you feel. Reintroduce one at a time. That’s the process.

What it can’t do: diagnose your EoE, tell you definitively what’s causing your flares, or replace working with a doctor who knows your case.

I also use the Functions blood test, which I’ll be reviewing soon. I like stacking different tests because each one gives me a different piece of the puzzle. 5Strands is one piece. Your food journal is another. How you actually feel is another. No single test tells you everything — but the more information you have, the better decisions you can make.

I’ve done 5Strands twice and I’ll do it again. If you want to try it, I have an affiliate link below that gets you a discount — no pressure at all. It’s genuinely just something I use and believe in.

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Ready to Try 5Strands?

If you want to get your own test, use my link and you’ll get a discount automatically. I only share things I’ve actually used — this is one of them.

Get your 5Strands test here → http://www.5strands.com/#jenolistic

FAQ

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Watch the Full Video

I made a full video walking through both sets of results side by side — including the EoE piece — if you want to see the actual reports. [Watch it here]

And if you’re managing EoE and want a structured guide, I built the EoE Reset Plan — 25 lessons, $17, yours to keep. It’s the guide I wish someone had handed me at the beginning. [Check it out here]

I’m also in a Facebook group with about 10,000 people going through similar things — questions, results, what’s working. [Come find us]

— Jen

Not medical advice. Just my experience. Always work with a doctor who knows your full picture.