Food Challenge Clinic For Allergy Testing

University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital helps parents find out if a child has outgrown a food allergy. Various food allergies affect about 3 million children in the U.S., causing them to have symptoms ranging from mild to potentially life-threatening after eating even a very, very small amount of a trigger food. Many children outgrow a food allergy. For example:

• 15 to 20 percent of children allergic to peanuts will outgrow their allergy
• 85 percent of children allergic to milk, soy or eggs will outgrow their food allergy within childhood or adolescence

The Food Challenge Clinic at the Division of Pediatric Allergy/Immunology provides testing or the reintroduction of the food in a four-hour controlled and monitored clinical setting. A successful food challenge confirms that the child has outgrown the food allergy and the food can be safely reintroduced into the regular diet. While allergy testing can fall short in defining the tolerance, clinical food challenges provide an optimal and reliable way to rule out food allergy.

Candidates for the Food Challenge Clinic

Candidates for the UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Food Challenge Clinic include:

• Children whose allergy skin or blood tests indicate increased probability of tolerance for the food which caused the allergic reaction in the past
• Children who have positive allergy testing to certain foods but have never been overtly exposed to the same foods to know whether they are truly allergic

Learn what to expect when your child attends the Food Challenge Clinic.