Washington, Aug 19 - Children who are highly allergic to milk can drink it safely and eat other dairy products, according to new research.

Investigators followed up with a subset of infants who were part of an earlier Johns Hopkins Children Centre-led study in which patients allergic to milk were given increasingly higher doses of milk over time.

Continuous exposure to milk allergens, proteins that trigger bad reactions, gradually retrained their immune systems to better tolerate the very food they once rejected.

The follow-up of 18 children aged six to 16 whose severe milk allergies had eased or disappeared found that all of them were able to safely consume milk at home, and that reactions, while common, grew milder over time.

The follow-up varied from three to 17 months, depending on how long it took patients to increase their milk intake.