Cow's Milk Allergy: Mechanisms, Diagnosis and Treatment

David Fleischer, MD, and Carina Venter, PhD, RD, discuss strategies for diagnosing and managing food allergies in infants, specifically cow's milk allergy (CMA) and its pathophysiology. Faculty describe IgE-mediated reactions to food; discuss current standard of care, including guided CMA elimination diet; examine the reintroduction of foods via oral immunotherapy; provide details about suitable and clinically recommended formulas; and review the latest insights of allergy trigger mechanisms that are providing new research targets for allergy treatments and clinical trials.

This activity is part of our food allergy collection: Understanding Food Allergies in Infants and Children: The Symptoms, Diagnoses, and Management

You may also be interested in Answers to Commonly Asked Allergy Questions, Videos for Parents and Caregivers.

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  David Fleischer, MD

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  David M. Fleischer, MD, is associate professor of pediatrics, director of the Food Challenge Unit, and associate medical director of the Research Unit, at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora. He received his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine, and completed an internship and residency in pediatrics, followed by a fellowship in pediatric allergy and immunology, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

  Dr. Fleischer directs one of the world's largest food challenge and allergy units. The goal of the unit's multidisciplinary team is to utilize the most current research to provide medical, psychosocial and dietary support to patients at a young age to enable them to successfully manage their food allergies into their adolescent and adult years.

  Dr. Fleischer's clinical interests include allergy, eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease, and atopic dermatitis. His research focuses on the natural history of food allergy and on novel treatments including oral and sublingual immunotherapies. He is the principal investigator for several national and international clinical trials.

  Dr. Fleischer has published numerous chapters and articles of food allergy and gastrointestinal disease. He serves on the board of a number of national and international organizations devoted to food allergy research and education and is a reviewer for several medical journals.

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  David Fleischer, MD

  Professor of Pediatrics
  Section Head, Allergy & Immunology
  Director, Allergy & Immunology Center
  University of Colorado School of Medicine
  Aurora, Colorado

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  Carina Venter, PhD, RD

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  Carina Venter, PhD, RD, is assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora. She earned her doctorate in allergy/immunology at the University of Southampton in England and is a registered dietitian in the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa.

  Dr. Venter manages children and adults with allergies including food protein enterocolitis syndrome, eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases, and IgE and non-IgE mediated food allergies, with an emphasis on the role of nutrition in the prevention, diagnosis and management of allergic diseases.

  A founding member and chair of the International Network for Diet and Nutrition in Allergy, Dr. Venter developed evidence-based guidelines and protocols for the diagnosis and management of patients with adverse reactions to food. As a member of the NIH-sponsored Expert Panel of the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Diseases she was involved in creating guidelines to aid clinicians in the early introduction to infants of peanut-containing foods to prevent the development of peanut allergy.

  Dr. Venter has authored more than 100 chapters and articles on food hypersensitivity, pregnancy, lactation, weaning, and allergy prevention, and her work has been published in international journals. She is a frequently invited speaker at national and international conferences.

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  Carina Venter, PhD, RD

  Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Allergy & Immunology
  University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine
  Children’s Hospital Colorado
  Aurora, Colorado