Baked Tolerance in Cow’s Milk Allergy: Quite Frequent, Hard to Predict!

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Cow’s milk protein allergy (CMA) is the most common type of food allergy in childhood and exclusion diet is a challenge for patients. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> The study aim was to investigate the frequency of tolerance to baked foods containing milk and evaluate immediate skin prick test (SPT) and specific IgEs for different cow’s milk (CM) protein types as predictors of tolerance to baked foods containing milk for CMA patients. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A cross-sectional study was performed. Fifty-four CMA patients were enrolled and oral food challenge (OFC) was performed with baked product, 6 different milk SPTs and specific IgEs to CM, casein, α-lactalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Thirty-nine (72.2%) patients tolerated OFC with baked milk cupcake. CM-specific IgE and casein SPT showed statistical difference between positive and negative OFC groups. Probability curves for baked milk tolerance were created for specific CM IgE (<i>Z</i> = 2.542, <i>p</i> < 0.0110) and casein SPT (<i>Z</i> = 2.290, <i>p</i> < 0.0220) using logistic regression. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The high percentage of patients able to tolerate baked goods enables an improvement in intake possibilities and quality of life of CMA patients and families. Specific CM IgE and casein SPT demonstrated to be useful predictors in relation to baked milk tolerance.