Powdered milk helps kids overcome milk allergy - Johns Hopkins study update
Here is some additional information from the ongoing study at Johns Hopkins, which describes the effects of ingesting milk powder to overcome a dairy allergy. Keep in mind that the sample size is extremely small and that these findings are preliminary. However, it does give those suffering with such allergies a possible therapy to overcoming them instead of the current therapy, which is to abstain and hope that at some point in the future the body will not react to cow’s milk protein in the system.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) — Consuming increasingly higher doses of powdered milk may help children with milk allergies overcome their condition, a new study suggests.
In the double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of milk immunotherapy, all 12 children receiving milk powder daily significantly increased their tolerance of milk after four months, from no more than 40 milligrams to at least 2,540 milligrams (2.5 ounces). Meanwhile, the seven children receiving a placebo powder showed no improvement.
The findings were published in the Oct. 28 print edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study was conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Duke University.
“Our findings suggest that oral immunotherapy gradually retrains the immune system to completely disregard or to better tolerate the allergens in milk that previously caused allergic reactions,” study senior investigator Dr. Robert Wood, director of Allergy and Immunology at Hopkins Children’s, said in a hospital news release. “Albeit preliminary and requiring further study, these results suggest that oral immunotherapy may be the closest thing yet to a true treatment for food allergy.”
Link to full article on HealthCentral
Link to abstract/full text of study
