Milk and egg allergies hard to outgrow

Childhood allergies to milk and eggs appear to be harder to outgrow than in the past.

Milk allergy is the most common childhood allergy, affecting 2-3 per cent of young children. Egg allergy is the second most common, affecting 1-2 per cent of young children.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, Maryland examined medical records of more than 800 children with milk allergies and nearly 900 with egg allergies over a 13-year period. Among children in the study with milk allergies, they found that by the age of four years, less than 20 per cent of them had become able to tolerate milk, and by the age of eight years, only 42 per cent had outgrown the allergy. That compared with prior studies, which suggested 75 per cent children would overcome their milk allergies by the age of three years. A similar trend was found with egg allergies. Just four per cent outgrew this allergy by the age of four years, and just 37 per cent outgrew it by the age of 10 years. Many of these children eventually did outgrow their allergies, however, with 79 per cent of the milk allergy group and 68 per cent of the egg allergy group outgrowing their allergies by the age of 16 years.

The findings showed that some children were able to lose their allergies during adolescence, suggesting that pediatricians should keep testing older children.