Food allergy to cow's milk
proteins (APLV) is frequently found in young infants. Treatment is by starting an elimination diet. Different substitution products have been proposed: soya milk, partial hydrolysate of the
proteins of
lactoserum, powdered
casein hydrolysate, hydrolysed soya and pork
collagen.
Allergic reactions to soya milk, hydrolysates of
lactoserum proteins, powdered
casein hydrolysates and hydrolysates of soya have been described. The study that we present evaluates the effect on the natural development of these
allergies of a formula based on
amino-acids (
Neocate) in 26 patients who presented a syndrome of multiple
allergies one of which was a
food allergy to milk. Twenty-five of them had a severe
atopic dermatitis, isolated (14 cases), or associated with gastro-intestinal troubles (6) break in the growth curve (5),
anaphylactic reactions (2), one
asthma (1). One child had a chronic diarrhoea associated with a weight plateau. Evaluation 2 or 3 months later showed a significant improvement of the
atopic dermatitis. Return of the stature-weight growth was noted in 4 children from 5, the check in one was reported as due to a initially unrecognised
allergy to
gluten. The recovery of the APLV was shown by double-blind oral provocation test in 20/23 children between 11 and 37 months (22 +/- 9). Duration of administration of Neonate was between 6 to 19 months (12 + 5) months. This study confirmed the beneficial effect of the
amino-acid formula on
weight gain, gastro-intestinal troubles and development of
atopic dermatitis. The level of recovery of APLV of 86% at the age of 2 years is better than that reported in the syndrome of multiple
food allergies of 22%. The influence of this diet on the development of other
food allergies remains to be evaluated.