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New Research Results from American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology / World Allergy Organization Joint Congress

March 6, 2018  |  AAAAI, Advocacy, Allergy, Allergy-awareness, Anaphylaxis, Awareness, Education, Eosinophil, Epinephrine, Food-allergies, Food-allergy, Know-the-faacts, Patient, Research, WAO
New Research Results from American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology / World Allergy Organization Joint Congress

FAACT President and CEO, Eleanor Garrow-Holding, and Vice President of Development and Programs, Julie Forrest, attended the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (AAAAI)/World Allergy Organization (WAO) Joint Congress in Orlando, Florida from March 2-5, 2018. FAACT met with many partners, as well as exhibited at the Joint Congress. We shared all of our resources with numerous board-certified allergists to take back to their patients for further education and advocacy needs. We are looking forward to an exciting year.

Highlights of research presented at the conference include:

Low-Dose Peanut Therapy May Still Protect Patients: Oral immunotherapy (OIT) may help peanut-allergic patients achieve desensitization, but some patients are unable to tolerate the maintenance dose of 3,000 mg (equivalent of 10 peanuts). New research shows that patients who can only tolerate lower maintenance doses also have the potential to become fully desensitized to peanuts. 

Milk Allergy Affects Children’s Growth: Comparing two groups of children – one group allergic to cow’s milk and one group allergic to peanuts/tree nuts – researchers found that the children with a milk allergy had lower weight and height. Other allergic conditions (including eczema) and use of inhaled corticosteroids did not seem to effect weight. 

Food Allergies Most Common Cause of Anaphylaxis in Children: Looking at almost 2,000 children admitted into intensive care for anaphylaxis, researchers found the most common was food (peanut: 45%, tree nuts and seeds: 19%, milk: 10%). Other common triggers included medications, blood products, and venom. Peanut and dairy reactions were the principal causes of death out of all food-induced anaphylaxis. 

Excess Folic Acid Linked to Food Allergies: Folic acid is often recommended to pregnant women as a way of preventing birth defects. However, when folic acid supplements are consumed in high quantities, excess folic acid that is not metabolized can circulate throughout a mother’s blood stream. Scientists found that mothers with high levels of unmetabolized folic acid were more likely to have children with food allergies. 

Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) Part of the Allergy Path: Patients who have an allergic disease are more likely to develop another or multiple allergic diseases in their lifetimes. This progression commonly starts with eczema in infancy and can develop into food allergy, asthma, or hay fever in childhood. New research shows that children with eczema, food allergy, or asthma all had a greater risk of developing EoE than children without these conditions. 

Red Meat Allergy No Longer Rare: A university-affiliated allergy clinic found that among cases of anaphylaxis with a definitive cause, the most common trigger was the “alpha-gal” compound (galactose-alpha-1, 3-galactose) found in red meat. Note that even though pork is called “the other white meat,” both beef and pork contain the alpha-gal compound and are potential triggers for red meat allergy.

Insect Allergies Linked to Red Meat Allergy: People with red meat allergy (alpha-gal) are five times more likely to be allergic to stinging insects – honey bee, white-faced hornet, common wasp, paper wasp, and fire ant – than patients without the allergy. The most common reaction was to the common wasp: 30.3%. Patients with red meat allergy are 3.6 times more likely to have multiple venom sensitizations. 

Blood Type May Protect Against Red Meat Allergy: Certain blood types may have a protective effect against red meat allergy (alpha-gal). Researchers found that people with blood type B or AB may be five times less likely to be diagnosed with red meat allergy. 

Next year’s AAAAI/WAO Joint Congress will take place February 22-25, 2019 in San Francisco, California. Visit AAAAI to learn more.