Empiric 6-food elimination diet induced and maintained prolonged remission in patients with adult eosinophilic esophagitis: AANBprospective study on the food cause of the disease

• Published in: Journal of allergy and clinical immunology Vol. 131; no. 3; pp. 797 - 804
• Main Authors: Lucendo, Alfredo J, Arias, Angel, Gonzalez-Cervera, Jesus, Yaguee-Compadre, Jose Luis, Guagnozzi, Danila, Angueira, Teresa, Jimenez-Contreras, Susana, Gonzalez-Castillo, Sonia, Rodriguez-Domingez, Benito, De Rezende, Livia C, Tenias, Jose M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-03-2013
• Subjects: Arachis hypogaea; Biopsy; Cereals; Children; Cow's milk; Data processing; Diets; Eggs; Endoscopy; Esophagitis; Food; Food hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity; Immunoglobulin E; Legumes; Leukocytes (eosinophilic); Nuts; Remission; Seafood; Skin tests; Soybeans; Triticum aestivum
• ISSN: 0091-6749

Background: Although empiric exclusion from the diet of the 6 food groups most likely to trigger allergies achieves eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) remission in children, data on its prolonged efficacy and effects on adults are lacking. Objective: We sought to evaluate the efficacy of a 6-food elimination diet in inducing and maintaining prolonged remission in patients with adult EoE. Methods: Sixty-seven consecutive patients with adult EoE were prospectively recruited and treated exclusively with a diet avoiding cereals, milk, eggs, fish/seafood, legumes/peanuts, and soy for 6 weeks. Subsequent challenge was undertaken by sequentially reintroducing all excluded single foods, followed by endoscopy and biopsies, which were developed every 6 weeks in case of response (eosinophil peak count reduction to <15/high-power field [hpf]). AANBfood was considered a trigger for EoE and removed from the diet if pathologic eosinophilic infiltration (aY15 eosinophils/hpf) reappeared. Food-specific serum IgE measurements and skin prick tests were performed before initiating the diet. Results: Forty-nine (73.1%) patients exhibited significantly reduced eosinophil peak counts (<15 eosinophils/hpf) before sequential single-food reintroduction. AANBsingle offending food antigen was identified in 35.71% of patients, 2 food triggers were identified in 30.95%, and 3 or more food triggers were identified in 33.3%. Cow's milk was the most common food antigen (61.9%), followed by wheat (28.6%), eggs (26.2%), and legumes (23.8%). Prior allergy tests showed no concordance with food-reintroduction challenge results. All patients who continued to avoid the offending foods maintained histopathologic and clinical EoE remission for up to 3 years. Conclusions: An empiric 6-food elimination diet effectively induced remission of active adult EoE, which was maintained for up to 3 years with individually tailored, limited exclusion diets.