New Therapy Targets Gut Bacteria to Prevent and Reverse Food Allergies

https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/press-releases-detail?id=3352

New Therapy Targets Gut Bacteria to Prevent and Reverse Food Allergies

Study finds altered gut microbiota in infants with food allergy; oral therapy to replenish bacteria prevented food allergy and suppressed established disease in mice

Boston, MA — Every three minutes, a food-related allergic reaction sends someone to the emergency room in the U.S. Currently, the only way to prevent a reaction is for people with food allergies to completely avoid the food to which they are allergic. Researchers are actively seeking new treatments to prevent or reverse food allergies in patients. Recent insights about the microbiome — the complex ecosystem of microorganisms that live in the gut and other body sites — have suggested that an altered gut microbiome may play a pivotal role in the development of food allergies. A new study, led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, identifies the species of bacteria in the human infant gut that protect against food allergies, finding changes associated with the development of food allergies and an altered immune response. In preclinical studies in a mouse model of food allergy, the team found that giving an enriched oral formulation of five or six species of bacteria found in the human gut protected against food allergies and reversed established disease by reinforcing tolerance of food allergens. The team’s results are published in Nature Medicine.

 

Wow! More investigation of the microbiome. I hope all these scientists know about each other. If there isn't already a journal, Microbiome, someone should start one.

One of my early interventions for ME was an exceedingly strict food allergy diet, physician supervised. No help. It was an elimination/gradual reintroduction diet. I tried it for almost a year. I reacted with
increased GI symptoms to many foods I tried to reintroduce, plus brain fog if it was carbs.

I think if researchers have found a treatment that bypasses strict elimination diets, that's great. Living like an air fern on hypoallergenic concoctions for months, or even years on end is no way to go.

 

Sorry @DokaGirl. I'm very well aware that food allergies are no fun at all, but your analogy here did give me a chuckle ... .

 

Thanks @Barry. I do like to interject humour.

The different phases of this journey I've been on. The whacko ideas for treatment from mainstream physicians. A lot of it for a while was based on allergies. No help.

Anyways, thanks Barry for your chuckle.

Cheers!