Abstract
【Background】 We evaluated diet instructions developed for patients with egg allergies aiming to achieve release from elimination by eating as much eggs as possible. The patients began to consume egg whites quantitatively based on the results of an oral food challenge test. In the present paper, we examined the level of consumption after one year of follow-up after providing diet instructions to increase the dose of eggs.
【Methods】 The subjects included 40 patients (median age: 35.5 months) with positive egg challenge test results who started consuming 2 g or more of boiled egg whites according to the policy reported in our previous paper. If the patients were able to consume the instructed amount five to ten times safely, they were allowed to increase the doseabout 1.2 times. After one year of repeated diet instructions, we evaluated the level of egg consumption. With respect to a control group, we conducted a retrospective chart review of 40 patients who exhibited positive egg challenge test results before we initiated the study of the quantitative diet instructions.
【Results】 After one year of diet instructions, 63% of the subjects were able to consume more than half of one egg. This percentage was significantly higher than that observed in the control group (15%, p<0.01). On the other hand, the number of patients who consumed less than 1/20 eggs after one year was only one (3%) in the subject group and 22 (55%) in the control group.
【Conclusions】 The diet instructions to 'eat as much as possible' were shown to be effective inincreasing the level of consumptionearlier in patients with egg allergies.
