For the last eight months, my wife and I have been focusing on managing our son’s multiple food allergies from day to day. We haven’t thought much about the future: Feeding him when he’s allergic to wheat, eggs, corn, soy, peanuts, and chicken is time-consuming enough.
But in this season of hope, we’re finally starting to look at what life in the buffet line might be like for Graeme in a few years.
1. He might just outgrow a number of his allergies as he ages; most children do. But this is not a guarantee. The majority of children with peanut allergy do not outgrow it, for instance, and a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 2007 found that egg and milk allergies (Graeme’s not allergic to milk) may be more difficult for children to outgrow than they were a generation ago.
We’re hoping that he will at least kick a few of his allergies, which would ease his life substantially.
2. Allergists are getting really good at desensitizing kids to existing allergies through immunotherapy. In immunotherapy, patients are given increasingly higher doses of an allergen to help their body get used to and, subsequently, react less to it.
In October, researchers at Duke University and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center say they were able to reduce sensitivity in children with milk allergies by treating them with milk (don’t try this at home, doctors warn). While the trial was small, it was the first double-blinded and placebo-controlled study of milk immunotherapy.
Similar work has been going on with eggs and peanuts. The drawback to immunotherapy is that it can be dangerous for children who have severe reactions to allergens.
3. Helpful scientists are working to make immunotherapy less dangerous. In Europe, researchers at the Institute of Food Research are modifying variants of allergic proteins to make them hypoallergenic and safer.
They will use those modified proteins to desensitize patients who cannot handle current immunotherapies due to the threat of anaphylaxis.
Immunotherapy may not cure Graeme’s allergies. But if it can make it easier for him to tolerate allergens he can’t avoid, so that he’s not at risk of anaphylaxis, then that’s progress we can live with.
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