According to the latest study, milk can be used as treatment for milk allergy. The researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre and Duke University have come out with a new theory that by giving milk-allergic children milk in increasingly higher doses over time, their allergic reactions to milk could be prevented.

According to the latest findings, by giving milk to the milk-allergic children, the immune system will be gradually retained

to completely disregard or to better tolerate the allergens in milk that previously caused allergic reactions. Dr. Robert Wood, senior investigator on the study and director of Allergy & Immunology at Hopkins Children’s in Baltimore in the statement says that the oral immunotherapy may be the closest thing yet to a ‘true’ treatment for food allergy. He also adds that however, more study is needed in this case. Dr. Wood advises parents and caregivers not to try giving milk to children who are allergic to it without medical supervision.

Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre and Duke University conducted the study on 19 children, between the ages 6 to 17 years, with severe and persistent milk allergy. Within a period of 4 months, 12 children received escalating doses of milk powder by mouth, while 7 received a placebo powder that was identical in appearance and taste to the real milk powder. The research findings are reported in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

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Dr. Woods and colleagues also found that children who had been receiving increasingly higher doses of real milk powder were able to tolerate an average of about 5 ounces of milk without any allergic reaction or only mild symptoms.
The research findings say that the milk tolerance in children treated with real milk powder continues to build over time.  Dr. Wood adds that this tolerance is lost once the immune system is no longer exposed to the allergen daily. Milk allergy is the most prevalent type of food allergy for which therapies that go beyond strict food avoidance are required.

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