Daily baked egg intake may accelerate the development of tolerance to raw egg in egg-allergic children

Eur J Pediatr. 2020 Apr;179(4):679-682. doi: 10.1007/s00431-019-03488-4. Epub 2019 Nov 22.

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that egg-allergic children who tolerate baked egg (BE) are more likely to outgrow egg allergy than children that do not tolerate it. The question to be answered is whether regular ingestion of BE accelerates tolerance to other forms of egg (cooked and raw). Our aim was to determine if daily ingestion of BE would accelerate tolerance to raw egg in BE-tolerant patients compared to patients who tolerate BE at diagnosis but eliminated it from their diet and to patients who didn't tolerate it. We performed a retrospective analysis of all children diagnosed of IgE-mediated egg allergy at the Pediatric Allergy Unit of the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, from 2008 to 2014. Seventy children were included. At diagnosis, 33 patients tolerated BE and kept its daily ingestion, 16 patients tolerated BE and were recommended to avoid it, and 21 patients didn't tolerate it. Patients tolerating BE who kept daily ingestion achieved tolerance to raw egg significantly earlier (p < 0.05) than the other two groups.Conclusion: Our data suggest that daily intake of BE in BE-tolerant children accelerates tolerance to raw egg.What is Known:• It has been suggested that egg-allergic children who consume baked egg (BE) products on a regular bases are more likely to outgrow egg allergy than children that do not tolerate themWhat is New:• Patients who tolerated BE on diagnosis and followed an exclusion diet show a similar evolution than patients who initially did not tolerate BE. Daily ingestion of BE seems to accelerates tolerance to raw egg.

Keywords: Baked egg; Children; Egg allergy; Food allergy; Raw egg; Tolerance.

MeSH terms

  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cooking
  • Egg Hypersensitivity / immunology*
  • Egg Hypersensitivity / therapy
  • Eggs*
  • Humans
  • Immune Tolerance
  • Infant
  • Retrospective Studies