A study written in the International Archives of Allergy and Immunology peaked my interest recently. Researchers set out to test the concentration of a specific saliva mast cell to see if it helped determine whether or not a food allergy was present. Using patients already suspected of food allergy, participants were instructed to chew the offending food until they developed symptoms.
What researchers discovered was that concentrations of this mast cell peaked after about four minutes following the onset of symptoms. The conclusion of the study is that the measurement of this specific mast cell in saliva may be helpful in diagnosing food allergy.
My interest in this is that we may have another way to diagnose food allergy. Blood and skin tests have proved to be less than ideal for reliability and I've outlined before the difficulties of relying on food challenges. We are in dire need of better testing alternatives.
While this study had a small sample size, I remain hopeful that it is another key to help unlock the mystery of food allergy.
5 comments:
I agree -- very good news. The more we understand about how our bodies react, the better!
This truly could be a great breakthrough.
This would be a wonderful alternative.
I spent a small fortune having to get several "blood food allergy tests" and there were easily 10 more since they were all broken down in different categories...and for someone without medical insurance I was desperate to figure out what I was eating that was keeping me sick. I also felt that there just had to be another way to get this information so I am hopeful about this!
The method includes determining a level of antibodies against a dietary antigen in a sample of the mucosa of the patient and comparing the level with normal levels of antibodies.
This is really nice information. I am also agree with it.
Well , yeah great to hear about this new process of testing. Allergy testing in San Antonio is already using this method.
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