Scientific and medical findings show that the use of a treatment called oral immunotherapy might just be the permanent end to all food allergies!

Allergies have been one of the leading causes of death in the nation for hundreds of years. If you look closely, every restaurant or cafeteria, deli or bakery must now legally have a sign regarding food allergies and stating the use of any soy, dairy or wheat products in the facility. This could easily be a result of the fact that every three minutes, a person experiences a severe or life-threatening event regarding an allergic reaction to something they ingested or touched. Luckily with the help of many medical assistants, administrators and alums, we have gotten one step closer to finding an end to what could easily be considered a large problem in the lives of millions of children, adults and elders. Can you imagine what it must be like to have to go an entire lifetime without knowing what a strawberry tastes like? Or what about never being able to even touch milk?! Being allergic to certain foods can not only result as a deadly situation, but can also make the individual feel deprived and underprivileged.

Oral immunotherapy is an innovative and experimental way to find out if a person could indeed become immune to certain allergens such as peanuts or dairy products. This treatment is made effective by using the help of phlebotomists to draw blood from the affected individual and determine the potency of their immune system. Later, the person receives a series of injections to lower immunity responses. Doing so allows victims of such life threatening allergies to be able to consume the very same foods that could potentially take their lives. Over a given amount of time, the individual will continue to receive the injections and as they continue to ingest these dangerous foods, their bodies begin to tolerate larger and larger doses of it.

It is truly incredible to witness what these treatments can do for an individual who has spent most of their lives wondering what it would be like to finally try something as common as ice cream without potentially losing their lives. Of course, as all life changing events do, these treatments do involve a certain level of potential risk. Because the word cure typically dictates a lifetime of immunity to foods that were once life-threatening, scientists and clinical researchers choose not to claim these treatments as cures just yet, but we are almost there! In a couple of years, medical technology could give us answers not only to ways in which to stop allergic reactions, but also answers as to why these allergic reactions are occurring more and more frequently each day!