No matter how many labels you read, no matter how many times you explain the risks of cross-contact, no matter how careful you are— accidents can still happen. While you can control what foods are in the household, you can't account for school cafeterias, playdates, or birthday parties.
If this sound like you, there may be another option. We’ve helped thousands of children conquer their food allergies, so they can freely eat the foods that once threatened their life.
The path to beating your food allergy once and for all is more accessible than you may realize. All of this is possible with Oral Immunotherapy, a six to nine month treatment plan designed to incrementally build up the body’s tolerance to a food allergen.
For patients who know what they're allergic to, we're able to start OIT after the initial consult with our physician. For patients who aren't exactly sure or haven't had a reaction to a certain food, we use an oral food challenge to determine the severity of allergies and food sensitivities.
Food challenges are designed to understand each patient's tolerance to their food allergy and lets our physician know where and what foods to start on OIT. Have more questions about OIT? Check out our OIT Frequently Asked Questions page.
Food allergies affect 1 in 13 children, but oral immunotherapy (OIT) can help. We can perform OIT with any food, however the most common food allergies that are treated with OIT are:
- Egg
- Milk
- Peanut
- Almond
- Cashew
- Macadamia Nut
- Hazelnut
- Pecan
- Pistachio
- Walnut
- Wheat
- Soy
OIT is a very successful treatment that sees over 80% of patients able to eat foods that once threatened their health within six months of treatment. This form of therapy involves the exposure of allergenic foods to the patients, so there is a risk of anaphylaxis. However, our staff carefully supervises all patients during this process, and all treatments and test are overseen by a Board-Certified Allergist.
The primary goal of OIT is to be able to consume a full serving of the allergen without experiencing any adverse reaction: one glass of milk, one egg, a handful of peanuts, etc.