Current concepts: diagnosis and management of food allergy in children

Advances in the prevention and treatment of food allergy have been published in the last few years and are placed in context using a review format.

Preventing food allergy has been studied for years with questions of whether avoidance or exposure was a better strategy. Recent research has suggested that peanut allergy can be substantially reduced in high-risk infants through intentional oral exposure. For children with food allergy, the primary treatment remains avoidance, but controlled trials have shown some success with oral immunotherapy and sublingual immunotherapy.

Providers who see children with food allergies should be aware of the newer recommendations of preventing peanut allergy and the emerging therapies for children with immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy.