Milk Allergies can be Cured With More- Milk!

Kids whose “milk allergy” keep them away from the healthy drink, now have a lot to moan about! A new study claims that drinking large quantities of milk itself may be effective in getting rid of the 'itchy' milky suffering.

The study led by the Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that higher doses of milk over time may help ease allergic reactions in kids.

Allergy - Causes - Symptoms - Diagnosis - Treatment - FAQs - Videos
An allergy is a hypersensitive disorder of immune system. Substances that often cause allergic reactions are pollen, dust mites, mold spores, pet dander, food, insect stings and medicines.

However, they say, further studies are required for better insights.

"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," said Dr Robert Wood, senior investigator on the study and director of Allergy and Immunology at Hopkins Children's.

"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," he added.

Majority Of Doctors Tend To Ignore Milk Allergy Cases In Babies
Four in five GPs are not able to correctly diagnose milk protein allergy in infants and wrongly prescribe soy - based milk instead - which can pose a risk to long-term health.

During the study, the researchers compared a group of children receiving milk powder to a group of children receiving placebo identical in appearance and taste to real milk powder.

They followed allergic reactions over four months among 19 children with severe and persistent milk allergy from 6 to 17 years of age.

New Guidelines Set to Improve Standard of Cows' Milk Allergy Care
The standard of care of infants with CMA, the most common food allergy in children will be improved by new guidelines.

Of the 19 patients, 12 received progressively higher doses of milk protein, and seven received placebo.

At the beginning of the study, the children were able to tolerate on average only a quarter of a teaspoon of milk.

Teenagers, When Away from Home, Die of Allergic Reactions, Study Says
An estimated 12 million Americans suffer from food allergies, and about 150 die every year.

However, at the end of the four-month study, both groups were given milk powder as a "challenge" to see what dose would cause reaction after the treatment.

The study found that children who had been receiving increasingly higher doses of milk protein over a few months were able to tolerate a median dose of 5 of milk without having any allergic reaction or with mild symptoms, such as mouth itching and minor abdominal discomfort.

But those who had been getting the placebo remained unable to tolerate doses higher than the 40 mg of milk powder without having an allergic reaction.

The team found that children who regularly drank or ate milk had more antibodies to milk in their blood, yet were able to better tolerate milk than those who took the placebo.

Tolerance in children treated with milk continued to build over time, and recommend that these children continue to consume milk daily to maintain their resistance.

"It may very well be that this tolerance is lost once the immune system is no longer exposed to the allergen daily," said Wood.

The findings are reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Source-ANI
TAN/L