Restrictive allergy-free diets not always necessary

Monday, 15 November 2010 09:18

Researchers at National Jewish Health believe many children are put on strict, unproven food-elimination diets due to incomplete information about potential food-allergies. These diets can lead to poor weight gain and malnutrition. The researchers have conducted a retrospective chart review of 125 children with suspected food allergies to determine the extent to which this occurs.

Food avoidance diets are often based primarily on data from blood tests. After an oral food challenge, the research found that between 84 percent and 93 percent of the foods avoided could be reintroduced to the children’s diets. The group of children in the study were avoiding a total of 177 different foods based primarily on previous blood test results. After further testing, 66 of the 177 foods avoided because of blood tests were restored the diets. For the entire study, 325 foods were restored to the diets of 125 children.

Reference: Fleischer et al. 2010. The Journal of Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.09.027