Food allergy in atopic dermatitis: experimental observations.

Results of an investigation of 134 subjects with atopic dermatitis and 29 controls are described. The investigation involved: 1) an allergological enquiry into each patient's medical history, with particular reference to consumption of eggs, milk and fish; 2) a total IgE assay; 3) RAST with egg, milk, cod; 4) a challenge test. Recording of medical histories revealed the existence of clinical sensitivity to egg, milk and cod in respectively 21, 17 and 7 of the 134 subjects with atopic dermatitis, but in none of the controls. In the atopic subjects, RAST demonstrated egg, milk and cod antibodies in 37, 28 and 14 cases respectively, while of the controls only 2 had antibodies--and then in minimal amounts. The maximum incidence of egg and milk antibodies was demonstrated in the initial 3 years of life. Clinical sensitization to cod manifests itself in the form of attacks (urticaria, angi-oedema, vomiting) showing significant correlation between clinical history, results of RAST and the response to challenge, while in the case of sensitivity to eggs and, even less evidently, to milk, the symptoms are more often referred to as "exacerbation of the dermatosis" and the results of RAST, of challenging and the clinical history tend to be contradictory.