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Understanding Your Options

Food Allergy Treatment in Canada: What Families Are Learning

A plain-language look at what's available, how Canadian allergists approach it, and how BC families typically find their way to care.

Two Established Approaches

One allergy, two different paths to treatment.

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) both aim for the same thing — building tolerance under an allergist's care — but they get there differently. Which one fits depends on your child, your allergist, and what's available near you.

The landscape today

Food allergy touches a lot of Canadian households. Food Allergy Canada estimates that more than 600,000 Canadian children live with a food allergy, and roughly one in two Canadian households is affected in some way. For a long time, the standard approach was strict avoidance and carrying epinephrine, full stop.

That's still the foundation of safety. But over the past decade, allergists across Canada have increasingly started offering active treatment approaches — ways to gradually raise the amount of an allergen a person can tolerate before reacting. These aren't cures, and they don't remove the need for an emergency plan. What they aim to do is reduce the risk from an accidental exposure and, for many families, ease some of the day-to-day vigilance food allergy demands.

A parent reading with their child at home
Two Approaches Being Offered

Sublingual and oral immunotherapy

Both are delivered under an allergist's supervision, not at home on your own.

Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT)

A small, measured amount of allergen is held under the tongue for a few minutes, exposing immune cells in the lining of the mouth. Doses are increased gradually to a steady maintenance level.

Learn about SLIT

Oral Immunotherapy (OIT)

A daily, food-based dose of the allergen is increased step by step in a clinical setting until a maintenance dose is reached, then continued — often indefinitely — to help maintain the effect.

Learn about OIT

How this is regulated and accessed in Canada

Unlike the United States, where a specific peanut oral immunotherapy drug product has held FDA approval, Canada does not currently have a Health Canada–approved oral immunotherapy drug product on the market. In practice, this means Canadian allergists who offer OIT do so as an individualized, closely supervised clinical protocol — not a packaged product — guided by practice guidelines published by the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI).

Those guidelines are clear that offering OIT responsibly takes real infrastructure: an allergist experienced in the approach, the ability to do supervised food challenges, and a plan for managing an allergic reaction on site. CSACI has also noted that access isn't even across the country — demand is growing faster than the supply of allergists equipped to offer it, in both urban and rural areas.

How BC families typically get there

  • A referral from a family doctor or pediatrician to an allergist
  • An allergy work-up to confirm the diagnosis and severity
  • A conversation about whether SLIT, OIT, or continued avoidance fits your child's age, allergen, and health history
  • Wait times and program availability that vary by region and by allergist

Where Canadian FAIT Research Fits In

We're an independent education platform, not a clinic — we don't provide or sell treatment. Our free information sessions help BC parents walk into that first allergist conversation with the right questions already in hand.

Reserve Your Spot Explore Treatment Options

If you're just starting to research this for your family, our FAQ covers the questions we hear most often from BC parents, and our treatment options overview is a good next stop before your allergist appointment.

Treatment decisions should always be discussed with qualified healthcare professionals, such as your child's doctor or allergist. This page is educational information, not medical advice.

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