PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Forgoing one food treats eosinophilic esophagitis as well as excluding six

NIH grantees report results of first multi-site randomized trial comparing the two diets

Forgoing one food treats eosinophilic esophagitis as well as excluding six
2023-02-28
(Press-News.org) Eliminating animal milk alone from the diet of adults with eosinophilic esophagitis, or EoE, is as effective at treating the disease as eliminating animal milk plus five other common foods, a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health has found. For people with EoE whose disease remains active after they forgo animal milk, a more restrictive diet may help them achieve remission, according to the researchers. These findings were published today in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 

“Diet-based therapy for eosinophilic esophagitis will be much easier to follow for many people if it involves cutting just one food from the diet rather than six,” said Hugh Auchincloss, M.D., acting director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH. 

EoE is a chronic disease characterized by an overabundance of white blood cells called eosinophils in the esophagus. Allergic inflammation due to food drives the disease by damaging the esophagus and preventing it from working properly. For people with EoE, swallowing even small amounts of food can be a painful and stressful choking experience. About 160,000 people in the United States are living with EoE.

Excluding certain foods from the diet has been a cornerstone of EoE treatment. During the early 2000s, researchers found that eliminating six common food triggers of esophageal injury—milk, egg, wheat, soy, fish and nuts—substantially reduced signs and symptoms of EoE. This six-food elimination diet (6FED) became a common approach to managing the disease. 

In recent years, scientists have conducted small, non-randomized studies of removing one to four of the most common food antigens from the diet to treat EoE, with some success. However, the relative risks and benefits of eliminating many foods versus a few foods at the start of diet-based therapy remained unclear. 

The new findings come from the first multi-site, randomized trial comparing the 6FED with a one-food elimination diet (1FED) in adults with EoE. The trial was co-funded by NIAID, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, all part of NIH. Marc E. Rothenberg, M.D., Ph.D., the senior author of the published study, is director of both the Division of Allergy and Immunology and the Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s. 

The trial involved 129 adults ages 18 to 60 years with a confirmed EoE diagnosis, active EoE symptoms, and a high number of eosinophils in esophageal tissue. Volunteers enrolled in the trial at one of 10 U.S. medical centers that participate in the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers, part of the NIH-funded Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network. Participants were assigned at random to either the 1FED, which eliminated only animal milk from the diet, or the 6FED. They followed their assigned diet for six weeks, then underwent an upper endoscopy exam and an esophageal tissue biopsy. If the number of eosinophils in the tissue indicated that EoE was in remission, the participant exited the study. If EoE was not in remission, people who had been on 1FED could advance to 6FED, and people who had been on 6FED could take topical swallowed steroids, both for six weeks, followed by a repeat exam with tissue biopsy. 

The investigators found that 34% of participants on 6FED and 40% of participants on 1FED achieved remission after six weeks of diet therapy, a difference that was not statistically significant. The two diets also had a similar impact across several other measures, including reduction in EoE symptoms and effect on quality of life. Thus, 1FED and 6FED were equally effective at treating EoE, an unexpected finding. 

The researchers also discovered that nearly half of people who did not respond to 1FED attained remission after treatment with the more restrictive 6FED, while more than 80% of the non-responders to 6FED achieved remission with oral steroids.

Taken together, the investigators conclude that 1FED is a reasonable first-line diet therapy option in adults with EoE, and that effective therapies are available for people who do not achieve remission after 1FED or 6FED.

Reference: KL Kliewer et al. One-food versus six-food elimination diet therapy for the treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis: a multicentre, randomised, open-label trial. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology DOI: 10.1016/S2468-1253(23)00012-2 (2023).

NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website. 

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit https://www.nih.gov/. 

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®

END


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Forgoing one food treats eosinophilic esophagitis as well as excluding six Forgoing one food treats eosinophilic esophagitis as well as excluding six 2

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Are our pets leaking information about us?

2023-02-28
Are our pets leaking information about us? Pet and animal-related apps are creating cybersecurity risks to their owners, new research has shown.         While being able to trace your cat and dog may be an attractive benefit to many pet owners as it can provide peace of mind, allowing a third party to track your movements may be much less attractive. Computer scientists at Newcastle University and Royal Holloway, University of London have exposed multiple security and privacy issues by evaluating 40 popular Android apps for pets and other companion animals as well as farm animals. The results show that several of these apps ...

Experts demand fire safety policy change over health impact of widely used flame retardants

2023-02-28
Leading environmental health experts have called for a comprehensive review of the UK's fire safety regulations, with a focus on the environmental and health risks of current chemical flame retardants. The health dangers of substances meant to improve fire safety have prompted experts to demand a range of new measures to reduce risk. Flame retardants are widely used to slow down or stop the spread of fire. They are used regularly in a range of products – from sofas and textiles, to building materials. However, hundreds of studies have reported on the adverse effects of these chemicals, many of which are bioaccumulative and have been linked ...

Loneliness is central to perinatal depression

2023-02-28
Loneliness can often contribute to depression in expectant and new mothers, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers. The researchers say people working with expectant mothers, such as in antenatal classes or consultations, should be aware of the importance of loneliness and the value of encouraging new mothers to develop and maintain good social connections. The findings suggest that increased support from family and healthcare professionals can be helpful in reducing the mental health impacts of loneliness. Published in BMC Psychiatry, the meta-synthesis (an evidence review using a systematic ...

Obesity in pregnant women could alter the structure and function of the placenta increasing the risk of poor health outcomes for both mother and baby

2023-02-28
Maternal obesity alters the structure of the placenta (a vital organ that nourishes the baby during pregnancy) more than gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM; a condition is diagnosed by poor glucose control in pregnancy). The new insight, published in The Journal of Physiology, enhances understanding about the mechanisms underlying poor pregnancy outcomes and the subsequent greater risk of poor neonatal and offspring health. The identification of specific changes in the placenta could lead to the potential development ...

Australia’s rarest bird of prey disappearing at alarming rate

Australia’s rarest bird of prey disappearing at alarming rate
2023-02-28
Australia’s rarest bird of prey - the red goshawk - is facing extinction, with Cape York Peninsula now the only place in Queensland known to support breeding populations. PhD candidate Chris MacColl from The University of Queensland’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences led the research project that made the discovery and was shocked by the hawk’s dwindling numbers. “Over four decades the red goshawk has lost a third of its historical range, which ...

Local leaders announce plan to strengthen health services in Imperial County

Local leaders announce plan to strengthen health services in Imperial County
2023-02-28
Representatives from the City of El Centro, El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC), and UC San Diego Health today announced a strategic and operational plan to stabilize and financially bolster ECRMC, as well as the greater network of Imperial County hospitals. Under the proposed 12- to 18-month plan, UC San Diego Health will assume full day-to-day operational, clinical and financial management of ECRMC while Preston Hollow Community Capital (PHCC), the majority bondholder for ECRMC, will provide financial and other resources to ECRMC for ...

Tiny worm plays a big role in learning whether Parkinson’s really starts in the gut

Tiny worm plays a big role in learning whether Parkinson’s really starts in the gut
2023-02-28
AUGUSTA, Ga. (Feb. 28, 2023) – A tiny worm called the C. elegans is enabling scientists to explore the emerging theory that Parkinson’s disease starts in the gut. Key to the condition known to produce uncontrollable shaking, but also characterized by cognitive problems and gastrointestinal distresses like constipation, is a sticky, toxic form of the protein alpha-synuclein, which literally gums up the works of our neurons and kills them. Although it may seem counterintuitive, there is evidence from science labs like Neuroscientist Danielle Mor’s, PhD, that the toxic protein aggregates in the neurons ...

Gun violence spills into new neighborhoods as gentrification displaces drug crime, according to WVU study

Gun violence spills into new neighborhoods as gentrification displaces drug crime, according to WVU study
2023-02-27
Gentrification doesn’t erase drug crime and gun violence. Instead, research from West Virginia University economist Zachary Porreca shows that when one urban block becomes upwardly mobile, organized criminal activity surges outward to surrounding blocks, escalating the violence in the process. Porreca, a WVU doctoral student in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, analyzed 2011-2020 data on shootings and real estate across various Philadelphia neighborhoods. His paper presenting the findings, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, is one of the first of its kind to study the impact of gentrification ...

Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe

2023-02-27
ITHACA, N.Y. – While analyzing data from the first images of a well-known early galaxy taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Cornell University astronomers discovered a companion galaxy previously hidden behind the light of the foreground galaxy — one that surprisingly seems to have already hosted multiple generations of stars despite its young age, estimated at 1.4 billion years old. “We found this galaxy to be super-chemically abundant, something none of us expected,” said Bo Peng, a doctoral student in astronomy, ...

Climate trends in the west, today and 11,000 years ago

Climate trends in the west, today and 11,000 years ago
2023-02-27
People often say things like Phoenix has always been dry; Seattle has always been wet; and San Francisco has always been foggy. But “always” is a strong word.  A study from the University of California, Davis, synthesizes climate trends across the Western U.S. during a relatively young period of Earth’s history — the Holocene Era, which stretches from the present day to the past 11,000 years. This look at the really Old West shows that the hallmarks of California’s climate — the foggy coastlines ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Bio-inspired, self-cleaning sweat sensors for comfortable wearable health monitoring

Chung-Ang University researchers reveal strange dynamics of nanoparticle growth and shrink

No strong evidence for alternative autism treatments, study finds

New self-assembling material could be the key to recyclable EV batteries

An ancient signpost: Minute fossils tell big story about arthropod evolution

Predictable structures in music synchronises blood pressure the most, and could be used to create personalized music-based cardiovascular therapies  

New systematic review and meta-analysis shows an association between shingles vaccination and lower risk of heart attack and stroke 

Food for thought: Using food delivery services to provide rapid cardiac arrest response and potentially save lives

College drinking linked to poor academics, mental health for those around the drinker: Study

Nearly 80% of whale sharks in this marine tourism hotspot have human-caused scars

Spider uses trapped fireflies as glowing bait to attract more prey

How AI can build bridges between nations, if diplomats use it wisely

80% of Americans don’t know early-stage prostate cancer often has no symptoms

Researchers engineer ureter tissue from stem cells, paving way for transplantable kidneys

Strong, evidence-based leadership at CDC essential in wake of director’s exit, says SHEA

Birdwatching tourism is booming. Some countries are benefiting, while others are left behind

High protein or Trp diet increases the risk of cancer-associated venous thromboembolism

Risk of a second cancer after early breast cancer is low

Genetic key to why immune responses differ between men and women

Discovery could lead to new treatments for life-threatening allergic reactions

CRF announces TCT 2025 late-breaking clinical trials and science

Ancient DNA reveals farming spread through migration, locals slow to adopt it

Researchers turn mouse scalp transparent to image brain development

New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely

Wheat that makes its own fertilizer

Certain communities of pond plants may increase greenhouse gases

Hormone therapy type matters for memory performance after menopause

Stroke risk highest among Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander people

Scientists reveal warped protoplanetary discs, reshaping ideas about how planets form

Be it feast or famine, orangutans adapt with flexible diets

[Press-News.org] Forgoing one food treats eosinophilic esophagitis as well as excluding six
NIH grantees report results of first multi-site randomized trial comparing the two diets