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Can food allergies be outgrown? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Most people know about peanut allergy, since it impacts a lot of people, especially children. Can these allergies be outgrown? Robert Wood, an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins, says for most, that’s wishful thinking.

Wood: That includes everyone with peanut allergy, everyone with tree nut allergies. The odds are 80 to 90% that they will not. The odds are 70-80% they will outgrow something like a milk or egg allergy but the 20 or 30% who don't persist all the way into adulthood with these very severe allergies for foods that are hard to avoid. We've done lots of studies on the natural history of these allergies and have some pretty good markers of likelihood of being outgrown or not.    :26

Wood is one author of a recent study demonstrating the efficacy of omalizumab, an injectable drug used for asthma, in controlling food allergies in the majority of people in the study, including children younger than five years of age. The drug controls food allergies broadly but also seasonal allergies and asthma for most. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.