Family Allergy Clinic Helps Kids Beat Food Allergies With Under-The-Tongue Drops
Industry: Healthcare
Sublingual (under-the-tongue) immunotherapy drops are helping to minimize the symptoms of food allergies in children.
Scottsdale, Arizona (PRUnderground) June 2nd, 2015
Food allergies in children are surging, and while conventional advice has been to simply avoid problem foods, some physicians believe there is a better way: sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). With SLIT, patients take a liquid solution under the tongue that helps desensitize the body to reaction-causing foods.
Dr. Stuart Agren is a major advocate of SLIT for kids’ food allergies. As the medical director of the Family Allergy Clinic in Arizona, he began prescribing SLIT for food allergies several years ago with transformative results.
“A lot of my young patients are limited to very restrictive diets because of their food allergies,” said Dr. Agren. “With SLIT, they have been able to incorporate previously-taboo foods back into their diet and start eating normally again.”
In the past two decades, kids’ food allergies have increased by 50 percent according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The symptoms can be severe: painful cramps, vomiting, failure to thrive, and even anaphylaxis.
SLIT helps to stop symptoms by “teaching” the body to stop reacting negatively to foods. SLIT starts with a liquid saline solution containing extracts of allergy-causing food proteins. The solution is dispensed under the tongue as droplets that absorb into the bloodstream. Over time, the body can develop a tolerance to the proteins that once wreaked so much havoc on the body.
SLIT was developed in the mid-1980s as a more user-friendly alternatively to allergy shots. More recently, studies have shown the drops to desensitize people to food allergens in much the same way that they desensitize them to environmental allergens (dust, mold, pet dander, etc.) In the past few years, SLIT has garnered increased attention and acceptance after breaking studies at Duke and Cambridge Universities showing SLIT to be effective in desensitizing kids to peanut allergens.
Dr. Agren said that SLIT can be life-changing, particularly for kids with multiple food allergies.
“I had an 8-year-old patient recently who was allergic to eggs, milk, and wheat,” said Dr. Agren. “If he ate the wrong thing, he would cramp and vomit. He was about 20 pounds underweight.”
After a short time on the allergy drops, he was able to start adding previously problematic foods back into his diet without symptoms. He returned to a healthy weight for the first time in years.
The Family Allergy Clinic treats for several dozen food allergens including dairy, wheat, soy, rice, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.
About Family Allergy Clinic
Doctors at this Arizona allergist clinic offer sublingual immunotherapy (under-the-tongue allergy drops) for pollen and pet allergies as well as for food allergies (including milk wheat, gluten, nut, and fruit). The treatment is effective for kids with allergies, asthma, hay fever, eczema, sinus infections, and more.
(These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.)
