Supervisors info:
Ξεπαπαδάκη Παρασκευή, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Παπαδόπουλος Νικόλαος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Σολδάτου Αλεξάνδρα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
INTRODUCTION: The oral food challenge (OPC) remains the test of choice ("gold standard") in the diagnosis of food allergies and is an objective measure for their detection, in a controlled environment. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to investigate, evaluate and standardize recipes for double-blind food challenges in cow's milk and nuts and to evaluate their blinding and palatability. METHODOLOGY: The study included 12 children, aged 0-18 years, with diagnosed IgE-mediated food allergy, who were monitored at the Allergology and Clinical Immunology Unit of the "Panagiotis and Aglaia Kyriakou" Children's Hospital. Double-blind recipes were created by OFC in: Cow's milk (cooked), Walnut, Hazelnut, Almond, Peanut and Cashew, after a review of the relevant literature. Two recipes/samples were created: a) Active sample (allergen) with code A and b) Placebo sample with code P administered in separate sessions. To assess 'blinding', the 'Triangle Test' was used. Three samples, with six possible combinations of A and P, were offered to healthy volunteers who were told that 2 samples were the same and 1 was different and asked to identify which the different sample was and why. The palatability of the recipes was evaluated by completing a questionnaire updated for the Greek population. 3 different questionnaires were created for the age groups of children 0-4 years, 5-11 years and 12-18 years. Food challenges were made with 5 gradually increasing doses of the respective foods, according to the IFAAM guidelines, up to 1000 mg of food protein, per 20 minutes and a 2-hour follow-up, after the administration of the last dose. RESULTS: Regarding ‘blinding’, the results showed that for all foods, approximately 70% of the sample of healthy volunteers could not detect differences in the samples. The recipes were evaluated, overall, as palatable, both by the healthy volunteers (hedonic scale score=4.7/5), and by the children with food allergy (hedonic scale score=4.9/5). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study indicate the necessity of standardizing palatable recipes for double-blind food challenges, especially in the pediatric population, as food allergies appear, mainly, at a young age.
Keywords:
Food allergy, Oral food challenge, Children, Standardized recipes
