A new way to fix kids' food allergies
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published original research on a new concept in eliminating food allergy in children with intriguing results.
A new way to fix kids' food allergies
Gary Emmett, M.D.
by Gary Emmett, M.D.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an original research article on a new concept in eliminating food allergy in children. Over 5 percent of children have serious food allergies and egg allergy is one of the most common. That’s a real challenge, because eggs are almost unavoidable in modern food. They’re included in many prepared and processed foods and being use commonly as a “binder” in almost all pastries and cakes.
This new approach isn’t ready for widespread use - yet. It’s still experimental, but could one day offer new hope to kids and their families. The study included 55 children with egg allergy, between 5 and 11 years old. Forty kids received an egg-white powder as daily oral immunotherapy for 24 months - under careful supervision, of course. The other 15 children received a cornstarch powder “placebo” for 24 months. Throughout the study, all of the young volunteers were given “food challenges” - they consumed gradually-increasing amounts of the food they were allergic to, under medical supervision, to see if they would experience an allergic reaction.
After 22 months, 75 percent of the egg-white power group passed the food challenge (none of the control group did). That meant they were able to eat some egg without having an allergic reaction. Researchers took them off their therapy and retested a few weeks later. One-third of the egg-therapy group passed the challenge - and was still able to eat eggs a year later, report researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Although still in the experimental stage, this technique could be expanded to eliminate other dangerous food allergies such as peanuts, cow’s milk protein and shell fish that can cause serious, even fatal, reactions. This paper appears to be of high quality because it is a statistically valid, double-blinded study with over 50 patients and the results are likely to be repeatable.
"We found that oral immunotherapy provides protection in a majority of children with egg allergy by raising the reaction threshold," said Hugh Sampson, M.D., Dean for Translational Biomedical Sciences, Professor of Pediatrics, and director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "It represents a promising therapeutic intervention for food allergy and the approach is relatively safe, with most of the reactions to dosing categorized as mild."
It’s important to note two things. This was done under close medical supervision. And 15 percent of kids with egg allergies who tried the therapy had significant reactions and had to stop.
But it could help many children if future studies confirm the benefits - and can identify which kids would be helped. Fear of food allergy has changed little children’s lives. Many preschools have banned peanut butter because those children with peanut allergy can get seriously ill even by smelling the peanuts. Severe food allergies have made ordering in restaurants a nightmare for parents (and even a bigger nightmare for kitchen and serving staffs). The rate of food allergies appears to be increasing and reasons why this is happening is unclear. Exposing infants’ guts to complex organic proteins too young (under 4 months) causes increased sensitivity as does waiting too long.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the introduction of foods other than breast milk or formula at about 6 months. Doctors suspect that any food other than breast milk or formula under 4 months increases allergies and also it is clear that waiting too long (after 8 months) produces children who refuse to chew. If this new study can be reproduced and expanded to other common allergens, we could really improve children’s lives.
Does your child have a food allergy? How does your family cope?
Garry A. Emmett, M.D., F.A.A.P., has been a primary care pediatrician in South Philadelphia and Center City since 1979.
How do we cope? Our darling beautiful girl the week she was introduced to solids became irritable, rash, small amounts of blood in vomit. She has for 2 months been waking screaming every 90 minutes in pain, our whole family has also had unbroken sleep for this time. Finally after 3 doctors and a sleep clinic it is suggested she cannot process naturally occurring chemicals in foods like apples and corn. I walked from the doctors to a park where a parent was rocking their daughter in a sling. This girl will never be able to walk and talk and I said to myself, I was meant to meet this little girl today to put my daughter's condition in perspective. A long frustrating road ahead for the next few years while we introduce new foods but hopefully there is light at the end of our tunnel and for families like us.— Jacqueline- Australia- I didn't know how to respond, so replied below to your comment. — jacobsmith928
- Jacqueline - sorry to hear about your challenges. There are varying degrees of reactions to food proteins. Some are allergies, some are intolerances (e.g. they aren't able to digest, but there is not an 'allergic' reaction) - for our young son now 3.5, it included 18 months of an elimination diet by his mother, no solid food and a medical food to avoid constant rashes, bleeding, and discomfort. The doctors recommended steroids as they only course of action. However, it wasn't until we found a healing diet (in our case, the GAPS diet) that he improved enough to eat real food. While he doesn't yet eat eggs or dairy without a small reaction he can eat any meat, vegetable, core starches, etc without any problems.
The approach in this article sounds promising - for your situation you might look at the GAPS diet and similar approaches in which a strengthening of the digestive system is the core philosophy.— jacobsmith928 - Thanks for the reply. I will look that diet up and just debating whether to stop breastfeeding as I will also have to follow this diet as well. The doctor says yes but my 'instinct' is telling me breast milk is so good for babies but I also do not want to be the cause of her discomfort, one for me to ponder over the next week.— Jacqueline- Australia
- Yup, for sure. My wife did go on that diet after doing months of an elimination diet (which was incredibly hard to sustain). Certainly once we moved to a "healing" posture versus a "try not to hurt the baby" posture, we felt more empowered. Good luck! — jacobsmith928
- I would also like to recommend the Feingold Diet. My children responded very well to this diet. They are now 12 and 9 yrs old. My daughter never slept through the night for the first 2 yrs of her life. Needless to say neither did her parents. Once I started the diet she was a different child. I had to remove all foods and start over. I reintroduced foods slowly. I followed the recommendations of the Feingold diet. She was not able to eat alot of the foods in the beginning. As she grew older and stronger I was able to put some of the foods back into her diet. I also attempted some alternative healing for my daughter and son. I automatically put my son on the diet because of how well my daughter responded. We still have some rough days or nights because of the environmental allergies. This diet was the only way I believed I could give my kids the happiest and healthier life. They do not take any medications at this time. Thank goodness. It is always a learning experience but we get through much better these days. Wish you the best of luck with all you decide. Remember always go with mom's instinct and you know your own child the best!!! Stick with this motto and you will get through each day!!— jitags
- I hadn’t thought of the child being allergic to the mother’s milk. It’s a good point. If a baby is born with the allergy it would be allergic. Some scientists think exposure triggers sensitivity, but maybe some of us are just born faulty…
Thanks And Regards
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