Experimental treatment may help food allergies – - CNN.com Blogs

Food allergies are tricky business. Theyre on the rise in the United States and no one knows why.Some children are allergic to many foods, and its impossible to know based on preventive testing whether someone will have a mild or severe reaction. And so far theres no cure.Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Duke University are working on a treatment that may one day allow kids with allergies to safely eat the foods that cause them life-threatening reactions. Its still in the early stages, but Dr. Robert Wood of Johns Hopkins, who has been on the forefront of food allergy research, estimates the treatment could be brought to the public within six to eight years.In his new study, researchers explored a treatment for children with cows milk allergies. The strategy is to desensitize the child by giving small amounts of the allergen milk. Oral immunotherapy, swallowing small amounts of the allergen, has shown to be more effective than sublingual therapy, which involves putting even tinier quantities of milk under the persons tongue.

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