My daughter had allergies to the easiest to digest rice. So a friend from Hawaii said that the easiest and least allergenic food is Poi... food made from the taro root. It worked and no allergy problems at all. >From a medical point of view though, are there medical studies about poi being easy to digest and hypoallergenic? I would like to read some medical journals or books so as to substantiate it.
REPLY:
When I received this question I checked several medical textbooks and did a literature search back to the 1970's without finding anything at all. I spoke with the Director of a Pediatric Gastroenterology program and he pointed out that rice is rarely a problem compared to other foods in causing food allergies. The Chairman of Immunology and Allergy at our local School of Medicine drew a blank but he primarily deals with adult patients. I was all prepared to admit defeat when I asked our Health Science Librarian to see if her expertise in searching would provide an answer for you and ...
From Dorland's Medical Dictionary:
poi - a Hawaiian food made from the root of the taro plant, Colocasia esculenta. It is used as a cereal substitute for allergic infants.
From a MEDLINE search going as far back as the system allows:
Authors
Roth A. Worth RM. Lichton IJ.
Title
Use of poi in the prevention of allergic disease in potentially
allergic infants.
Source
Annals of Allergy. 25(9) : 501-6, 1967 Sep.
and
Authors
Glaser J. Lawrence RA. Harrison A. Ball MR.
Title
Poi--its use as a food for normal, allergic and potentially allergic
children.
Source
Annals of Allergy. 25(9) : 496-500, 1967 Sep.
The fact that these references are almost 30 years old and that nothing can be found in the medical literature world-wide after these two articles is of interest; I wonder if others were unable to duplicate the authors' work in this area. In any case there *are* articles on the topic but you'll need to visit your local medical school library to find them (I'd call first though). Glad your daughter is better!
--
Bruce Sckolnick, M.D.
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