AI-powered treatment plans help patients defeat food allergies

If you know someone with a food allergy, you know just how challenging day-to-day life can be – from carrying an Epipen to checking ingredient labels.

Now, a clinic named the Food Allergy Institute is helping patients overcome their allergies more effectively thanks to AI.

Recently, I visited the lab and met up with Kaitlyn Hartwell. Both of her kids have a nut allergy.

But there was her son Ryan, eating pine nuts during his appointment. Later, he’ll also have hazelnuts and cashews.

Was she worried? Nope.

“I did not want to spend my entire life avoiding a food,” Hartwell said. She flies in from Connecuit to treat her sons.

The Food Allergy Instutite has been helping patients overcome their food allergies for years. But now, AI is helping develop their personalized treatment plans.

“At the end of this program, they’re able to consume any of those foods without restriction. So their life has completely changed,” explained Dr. Inderpal Randhawa, who leads the Institute.

The process takes two to three years. Patients build tolerance by eating tiny amounts of allergens and it all starts with a blood analysis.

A machine analyses the blood samples and identifies proteins that the doctors must work to reduce the body’s reaction to.

“The AI right now is able to ingest all the diagnostic data you just saw from that machine, plus actually all the historical data we collect from the patient,” explained software developer Herman Sandhu.

What used to take a human three hours to analyze now takes AI about 10 minutes.

It can categorize a patient, assess risk, and create a customized dosing tragedy.

A doctor reviews the final plan.

“At some point, it will be technically more accurate than a human operator can be. It’s not there yet, but it will be,” said Sandhu, who helped create the program.

So far the Institute has treated thousands of patients, they believe this breakthrough will enable them to open more clinics in more places.

“Before AI, none of this was possible. It’s really that simple. I think this is the prototype for the future of healthcare,” said Dr. Randhawa.

For kids like Ryan and parents like Kaitlyn – it’s less about technology and more about peace of mind.

“To not have to worry about that is so freeing. So unbelievably freeing. And it’s worth every second, every penny, every, everything we’ve had to do to get to this point has been so worth it,” concluded Hartwell.

The cost of the treatment is about $400 a month and it is not covered by insurance, but lab work and clinical visits, which is separate, might be.