Recently, in
this thread, the journal Medical Acupuncture was mentioned. I did not find it to be a very highly-rated journal. Then again, I'm a lay person, so maybe I'm missing something.
In reviewing the full paper of this acupuncture of the ear (located
HERE), I found this interesting:
"To treat the allergy to alpha gal, the individual is indirectly exposed to the alpha gal carbohydrate through simply touching a vial containing this allergen. The procedure does not involve any direct application of the alpha gal orally or on/into the skin of the patient. The skin contact with the vial appears to trigger the materialization of an auricular point that corresponds to the alpha gal allergy in the SAZ (Fig. 1)."
Anyway, the paper also notes:
"The majority of patients were mammal product eaters before AGS (72.3% yes; 2.9% no; 24.8% unknown). However, at the time of treatment only 7.3% of individuals (n = 10) actively consumed mammal products."
The phrase "before AGS" isn't really specific. One week before? One month before? One year before? That would seem to be an important consideration, since the allergy could have resolved for various reasons. As noted, at the time of treatment, only 7.3% of people actively consumed mammal products.
There are other things in the paper which give me pause. (I think a larger sample size and more follow-up would be interesting.) Still, there's likely little chance of harm from the treatment itself, provided one takes precautions and has options available for a potential allergic reaction from reintroducing the previously-troublesome food(s).
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Post Edited (The Dude Abides) : 1/17/2023 3:57:34 PM (GMT-8)