Cake may be the answer to kids' egg allergy

By Joene Hendry NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - To desensitize young children to their allergy to eggs, physicians from Greece say "let them eat cake." Heat modifies certain egg allergens and, in turn, allows some children with egg allergies to be "treated" by feeding them ever increasing amounts of egg baked in a cake, Dr. George N. Konstantinou and colleagues, at the University of Athens report. They used this approach to accelerate the development of tolerance to hen's eggs among 94 boys and girls referred to the food allergy department at the university. After undergoing 6 months of desensitization, 90 percent of the children could tolerate egg baked in a cake, the researchers report in a preliminary, online posting by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. "Parents should be aware that there are novel approaches for... [read full story]