Oral immunotherapy with drinking milk may help milk allergy

According to Reuters, "giving milk-allergic children milk in increasingly higher doses over time eased their allergic reactions to milk and even helped some of the children completely overcome their milk allergy.

Oral immunotherapy may be the closest thing yet to a 'true' treatment for food allergy."

What is the prognosis in milk allergy?

Milk allergy usually occurs within the first year of life, and 60 to 75% of children undergo remission by age 2 years. By age 3 years, 85-90% can tolerate milk. Approximately 68% of milk-allergic children can tolerate extensively heated milk.

30-50% of infants allergic to cow milk protein will also be allergic to soy protein. These infants should be given protein hydrolysate formula. 5% of infants with hypersensitivity to cow milk formula will also react to hydrolysate formula and will require elemental formula.

Hydrolysate formulas are enzymatically hydrolyzed and contain charcoal-treated casein or whey. Whey or "milk plasma" is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained.

What is the most common food allergen in children?

(A) Gal d (egg)

(B) Tri a 19 (wheat)

(C) Mal d 1 (apple)

(D) Gly m (soy)

(E) Ara h (peanut)

(F) Bos d (milk)

(G) Api g 4 (celery)

Answer: F.

References:
Drinking milk may ease milk allergy. Reuters, Nov 10, 2008; Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online October 28, 2008.
Children with milk allergy tolerate heated milk
Talking Points on Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) for Physicians Practicing in the United States. ACAAI.
Child with perioral rash upon milk ingestion; prognosis. Ask the Expert. AAAAI, 2009.\

Any formula use in the first 6 months of life is associated with increased incidence of otitis media http://goo.gl/LAEJ

Office-based oral immunotherapy for food allergy is safe and effective - according to Texas allergist group that use it http://goo.gl/S4N8W

Frequent otitis media during infancy linked to atopic dermaitis and asthma in later life. Medscape, 2010.
Sublingual and oral immunotherapy for milk allergy. Desensitization was lost in some cases within 1 week off therapy. JACI, 2011.

Eosinophilic esophagitis after specific oral tolerance induction for egg protein http://goo.gl/fzmip
Milk allergy resolution calculator from CoFAR http://bit.ly/U6TkNS - Mobile version: http://bit.ly/U6TmFn
Image source: Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.