Johns Hopkins Study Offers Guidelines for Food Allergy Testing.

Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

BALTIMORE, July 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- A blood test that measures food-specific allergy antibodies can be used to help pediatric allergists with the difficult decision of when to reintroduce a food that a child has been allergic to, say researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

In their report, published in the July issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers provide guidelines for using these antibody levels to determine which children should be offered an additional allergy test, known as an oral food challenge, in which the child eats small amounts of the food allergen to establish whether or not a food allergy really exists.

Based on results of their …