CHICAGO—A systematic review of previous research indicates there are few high-quality studies on food allergies, with limited uniform criteria for making a diagnosis and determining prevalence and effective treatments, according to an article in the May 12 issue of JAMA. The findings revealed food allergies affect more than 1 percent or 2 percent but less than 10 percent of the U.S. population.
Researchers reviewed 72 studies on the prevalence, diagnosis, management and prevention of food allergies. The studies reported data on food allergies to cow’s milk, hen’s egg, peanut, tree nut, fish and shellfish, which account for more than 50 percent of all allergies to food.
As reported by Newswise, food challenges, skin prick testing, and serum food-specific immunoglobulin E all have a role to play in making the diagnosis but no one test has sufficient ease of use or sensitivity or specificity to be recommended over the other tests. Although elimination diets are the mainstay of therapy, the researchers identified only one randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an elimination diet; and immunotherapy, although currently not a licensed method for the treatment of food allergy, may be effective in generating desensitization, but whether the treatment can generate long-term tolerance remains to be determined.
The researchers also found that among high-risk infants, hydrolyzed formula may prevent against cow’s milk allergy but standardized definitions of high risk and hydrolyzed formula do not exist. Probiotics in conjunction with breastfeeding, hypoallergenic formula, or both may help prevent food allergy but their independent effects remain unclear.
“Currently licensed treatments target only the symptoms of reactions and anaphylaxis, not the allergies themselves,” the authors wrote. There is no clear consensus regarding the prevalence or most effective diagnostic and management approaches to food allergies, according to background information in the article.