Eating reassessment urged after negative oral food challenge

(HealthDay)—For children with a negative oral food challenge (OFC), there is a correlation between consumption of reintroduced food with the child's interest in tasting new foods before and after the challenge, according to a study published online Oct. 14 in Allergy.

Laura Polloni, Pys.D., from Padua University Hospital in Italy, and colleagues examined the role of a child's nutritional attitudes and maternal anxiety in reintroducing food after a negative OFC in a prospective study. Eighty-one mothers of children with immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy were surveyed on nutritional behavior and attitudes and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory on the day of OFC and six months later.

The researchers found that after a negative OFC, 11.1 percent of children never or rarely ate the food. There was a positive correlation for consumption of the reintroduced food with a child's interest in tasting new food before and after OFC and with changes in the child's nutritional habits after OFC; a negative correlation was seen for monotony of diet following OFC. There were no associations for other participant characteristics or maternal anxiety. There was a significant decrease in state anxiety after the OFC. Trait and state anxiety and the degree of change in nutritional habits after OFC were correlated.

"Evaluating child's approach towards food before the OFC is a promising approach to identify patients at risk of food reintroduction failure," the authors write. "Furthermore, it underlined the importance of reassessing food consumption in all patients after a negative OFC."

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