Can we determine a threshold level for allergenic foods by statistical analysis of published data in the literature?
GROUND: The aim of this paper was to investigate whether a statistical model could be developed to estimate a “threshold” dose for foods eliciting allergic reactions in susceptible patients. The threshold dose is defined to be one that elicits allergic reactions in a given (small) proportion of susceptible patients, using data from published studies. METHODS: Based on data available from the literature, we developed a statistical model using the actual allergen content in the four foods, where data for allergen content are available (peanut, soy, egg, milk). RESULTS: The model demonstrated that the threshold doses giving a reaction of one in a million in susceptible patients were within the same order of magnitude for egg, milk and soy, but were an order of magnitude lower for peanut flour: 0.005 mg of cow’s milk, 0.002 mg of fresh hen’s egg, 0.0007 mg of peanut, or 0.0013 mg of soy flour. CONCLUSIONS: Although several assumptions were made in creating this statistical model, we demons
