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Food allergy - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment

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Food allergy - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment

PantherMedia

Feeding your baby

A food allergy may be a permanent allergy, or it may resolve after a specific period of time of elimination of the antigen in question from the diet.

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Symptoms and course food allergy in children

The most common allergy of early childhood is an allergy to cow's milk proteins. Fortunately, in a relatively high percentage of children with this allergy, a quick diagnosis and the elimination of products containing cow's milk from the diet make it possible to achieve complete tolerance to this antigen over time. The data reported by individual authors differ somewhat, but in general it can be said that after diagnosis of cow's milk allergy in infancy - 2 years of a milk-free diet results in resolution of the milk allergy in 50-80% of children.

After 3 years of elimination of cow's milk proteins, 60-87% of children become fully tolerant to milk. In the remaining children, symptoms usually resolve after 5 years of a dairy-free diet at the latest. It is estimated that in only 2% of cases is cow's milk allergy permanent (for life).

The earlier the allergy is diagnosed and whole cow's milk protein, which is harmful to the child, is excluded from the diet, the better the treatment results. Cow's milk allergy with symptoms of anaphylactic shock or the association of skin allergy with symptoms of bronchial asthma have a worse prognosis.

With allergens other than cow's milk, it may take longer to achieve full tolerance of the food in question. For example, a documented, symptomatic allergy to egg white does not usually resolve until after 7 years of age.

There are also allergens that are practically impossible to tolerate - allergy to them is usually lifelong. This is often the case, for example, with allergies to fish, shellfish and nuts. Allergies to these products are also particularly dangerous in that a large proportion of patients react to their ingestion with violent shock reactions.

When to go to the doctor and treat food allergy in children

If a dairy-free diet is recommended for your child, strictly follow your doctor's recommendations regarding the duration of the diet. According to most specialists, the duration of a dairy-free diet should be at least two years.

Treatment food allergy in children

If you have a child with a cow's milk protein allergy, remember to eliminate all sources of milk protein from your child's diet (Danonki, yoghurts, cream, ice cream, etc.).