CRACKING EGG ALLERGIES

There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for children who have an egg allergy. A 2012 study, subsidized by the National Institutes of Health and held at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, utilized a treatment called oral immunotherapy. Operating under a similar premise to allergy shots that expose recipients to substances to which  they are allergic, the young participants ate daily doses of egg white powder that were gradually increased. After 22 months, 75 percent of the children could consume ten grams of egg whites without experiencing a reaction. After abstaining from eggs for six weeks, their responses were tested again. About one quarter of the group had been completely cured of the egg allergy.

 

P.S.  Food allergies affect about two students in every school classroom.

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