Allergy 'Cure' Under Fire by Doctors

June 6, 2001 -- What if you could cure those pesky, and sometimes debilitating, allergies without taking medication?

Although people who have tried a new allergy treatment called Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques say it is something close to a miracle, some doctors remain skeptical of its value.

NAET was developed by Devi S. Nambudripad of Buena Park, Calif., an accredited acupuncturist, chiropractor, kinesiologist and registered nurse. According to her Web site, she developed the treatment in 1984 while working on her doctorate at Samra University of Oriental Medicine in Los Angeles.

She observed that "people presenting allergic symptoms often responded favorably to acupuncture or accupressure treatment."

Exposing People to Allergens

Certain people's immune systems are sensitive to environmental factors — allergens — such as pollen or food, and are said to have allergies. Typically, doctors recommend that patients avoid allergens, or take an Food and Drug Administration-approved medication, which could be a topical medication, a pill or an injection.

With NAET, the practitioner exposes the patient to a vial of the allergen. Then, the practitioner monitors muscles all over the body to see how they respond. Practitioners say that when patients are exposed to an allergen in this setting, their muscles, and internal organs in some cases, appear to get weak or go limp.

After the allergy is determined, accupressure — the Eastern practice of applying varying levels of pressure to certain points around the body — is applied to areas along the spine to alter how the patient's muscles and internal organs react to the allergen as the practioner continues to expose the patient to the vial.

The patient also receives what Nambudripad calls "vibration therapy" along other accupressure points throughout the body. When that's done, the muscle reaction is tested again. If the muscles are able to react normally in the presence of an allergen, based on looking at results of monitors along accupressure points, the allergy should be gone, according to Nambudripad's theory.

Patient Swears by Method

Jonathan Kraft, a chef in St. Louis, swears by the treatment.

"I was allergic to dairy, butter fat, wheat, corn, beef, chicken, egg yolks, the whole specter of that," he said. "It was affecting how I work. I'd have an allergic reaction when I would handle large amounts of like butter. If I was making something I could actually feel it draining on my system."

Traditional allergists prescribed anti-inflammatories to reduce the immune response and "kind of said 'live with it,'" Kraft said.

But after the NAET treatment, Kraft says he can eat the things that once irritated him so badly.

"After I eliminated a few allergies, especially to eggs, after I was treated, I could start eating them, and actually didn't have that draining feeling, or feeling like it was taking a toll on my system," he said.

"His life was pretty severely compromised when I first started seeing him," said Dr. Tracey Fink, a NAET practitioner.

Doctors: Never Read About NAET Before

However, allergists interviewed by ABCNEWS.com were not familiar with the NAET method.

Both Dr. Abba Terr, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of San Francisco Medical School, and Dr. Michael Schatz, chief of the department of allergy at Kaiser Permamente Medical Center in San Diego, said they have never seen Nambudripad's work published in any reputable medical journals. They would not recommend it to their patients.

"Until she can present this in a published form so we can evaluate her methods as to whether its effective or not, no one can say it's a valid," Terr said. "… This technique uses applied kinesiology [muscle testing for disease diagnosis], which has been tested before for treating allergies, and was found ineffective."

Schatz said the placebo effect might be working to make the NAET recipients better. Studies have shown sugar pills can improve up to 40 percent of patients in allergy clinical trials.

"Some people are more likely to get a placebo effect that treats their allergies because they want a method to work, or believe in it so badly," Schatz said.

ABCNEWS.com's Melanie Axelrod contributed to this report and KTVI in St. Louis.