Montreal study sheds light on little-known childhood food allergy
Posted July 18, 2026 12:10 pm.
A Montreal-based study is helping doctors better recognize a little-known childhood food allergy that can send infants and young children to the emergency department with severe vomiting and dehydration.
Researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre followed 87 children diagnosed with food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES), making it the first Canadian cohort study dedicated to the condition.
Unlike typical food allergies, FPIES does not usually cause hives, swelling or breathing problems. Instead, symptoms often appear one to four hours after eating a trigger food, leading to severe vomiting, fatigue and dehydration that can be mistaken for gastroenteritis.
The study found eggs were the most common trigger, followed by seafood, milk, fish, peanuts, oats, fruit and soy. Researchers said the median age of symptom onset was seven months, with most reactions occurring before age two.
More than 80 per cent of children in the study eventually developed a tolerance to their trigger food and no longer experienced symptoms, often before reaching school age.
The findings, published in the International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, highlight the importance of earlier diagnosis to help families avoid repeated emergency department visits and unnecessary dietary restrictions, the researchers said.
