Gradual Doses of Protein Can Reduce Allergies

Another study has been released with the intriguing finding that exposing children to extremely tiny amounts of milk protein and then gradually increasing the amounts given can result in a better toleration of the protein.

The study, "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of milk oral immunotherapy for cow's milk allergy," by Justin M. Skripak et al. appeared in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 28 October 2008 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2008.09.030

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (2008, October 31). Drinking Milk To Ease Milk Allergy? Oral Immunotherapy Study Shows Promise -- But Do Not Try This At Home. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 5, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/10/081030192851.htm

Giving children with milk allergies increasingly higher doses of milk over time may ease, and even help them completely overcome, their allergic reactions, according to the results of a study led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and conducted jointly with Duke University.

Despite the small number of patients in the trial – 19 – the findings are illuminating and encouraging, investigators say, because this is the first-ever double-blinded and placebo-controlled study of milk immunotherapy.

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Researchers followed allergic reactions over four months among 19 children with severe and persistent milk allergy, 6 to 17 years of age. 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 40 mg (.04 ounces or a quarter of a teaspoon) of milk.

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 children who had been receiving increasingly higher doses of milk protein over a few months were able to tolerate a median dose of 5, 140 mg (over 5 ounces) of milk without having any allergic reaction or with mild symptoms, such as mouth itching and minor abdominal discomfort. 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. In the group receiving milk protein, the lowest tolerance dose was 2, 540 mg (2.5 ounces) and the highest was 8,140 mg (8 ounces). Lab tests showed the 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. Researchers say, tolerance in children treated with milk continued to build over time, and recommend that these children continue to consume milk daily.