While avoidance has long been the recommended treatment for food allergy, several presentations at the annual meeting of the AAAAI this week offer hope for better options. One Step Closer to Treatment for Food Allergy outlines two potential treatments, oral immunotherapy and sublingual immunotherapy. Sublingual refers to the allergen being held under the tongue until it dissolves, while oral means actually swallowing the allergen.
Research with children who have milk allergy provided some clues to those who may benefit from either, or both, of these treatments. While the sample sizes are small, positive results have been obtained and resulted in tolerance for milk protein. For more information, check with your allergist about immunotherapy for food allergies.This is not something that should be done at home as it requires medical supervision.
Progress appears to be slow and steady...
For more information about presentations at the AAAAI annual meeting, see abstracts from the presenters.
Showing posts with label treatment for food allergy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label treatment for food allergy. Show all posts
Common Sense for Food Allergies
I heard on the news this morning that a recent study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine shows that changing to a later start time for high school students is good for adolescents.
Makes perfect sens to me. Years of research has shown that the body clock during the teen years shifts to going to bed later and getting up later. We know this and should use this information wisely.
What does this have to do with food allergies, you may ask?
Well, this study seems like common sense to me. I don't believe we've used common sense for food allergies. Allergic to pollen? Get regular injections of minute doses of pollen to desensitize the body to pollen. Allergic to milk? Avoid it forever.
I've never thought that made sense. We do it in our house because that's the doctor's orders, but it doesn't seem like good common sense. Since getting the blood test results for my allergic child last week, I'm even more convinced. After 10 years of strict avoidance of multiple foods, all numbers are up- by a lot. My child is not out-growing any of these allergies. As a matter of fact, things are heading in the wrong direction.
This isn't good enough any more. I'm hopeful about a cow's milk immunotherapy study published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. This study involved placing cow's milk protein on unbroken skin in an effort to desensitize people.
Just yesterday, DBV Technologies got the go-ahead from the FDA to begin human clinical investigation of peanut desensitization. Trials begin this month in six medical centers in the U.S.
Avoidance isn't working. Desensitization makes common sense when it comes to food allergy. I recognize there are risks involved and I certainly do not recommend desensitization at home right now. But, let's all keep talking to our allergists and pushing for something better than "strictly avoid".
Stay tuned. We're starting to use common sense in food allergy treatment.
Makes perfect sens to me. Years of research has shown that the body clock during the teen years shifts to going to bed later and getting up later. We know this and should use this information wisely.
What does this have to do with food allergies, you may ask?
Well, this study seems like common sense to me. I don't believe we've used common sense for food allergies. Allergic to pollen? Get regular injections of minute doses of pollen to desensitize the body to pollen. Allergic to milk? Avoid it forever.
I've never thought that made sense. We do it in our house because that's the doctor's orders, but it doesn't seem like good common sense. Since getting the blood test results for my allergic child last week, I'm even more convinced. After 10 years of strict avoidance of multiple foods, all numbers are up- by a lot. My child is not out-growing any of these allergies. As a matter of fact, things are heading in the wrong direction.
This isn't good enough any more. I'm hopeful about a cow's milk immunotherapy study published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. This study involved placing cow's milk protein on unbroken skin in an effort to desensitize people.
Just yesterday, DBV Technologies got the go-ahead from the FDA to begin human clinical investigation of peanut desensitization. Trials begin this month in six medical centers in the U.S.
Avoidance isn't working. Desensitization makes common sense when it comes to food allergy. I recognize there are risks involved and I certainly do not recommend desensitization at home right now. But, let's all keep talking to our allergists and pushing for something better than "strictly avoid".
Stay tuned. We're starting to use common sense in food allergy treatment.
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