'EXCITING STEP'
Kids with deadly peanut allergies ‘cured’ with surprising at-home treatment
The researchers explained how they slowly increased a dosage of peanut butter over 18 months
CHILDREN with peanut allergy have been successfully treated… by eating peanut butter every day.
After a year and a half, the children were eating the stuff without a reaction, having increased their dose very slowly.
1
The "very exciting" results have been hailed as "a huge step forward" by the scientists in New York.
Around one in 50 children in the UK have a peanut allergy.
Reactions can be life-threatening and may be triggered even by foods that only contain tiny amounts of nuts.
It's standard that people with food allergies are told to avoid the food.
Read more on food allergies
Study co-senior author Professor Julie Wang, of the Icahn School of Medicine, said: "Years ago when people with milk and egg allergies were advised to undertake strict avoidance, our team initiated studies that found most people with milk and egg allergies could tolerate these foods in baked goods, which changed the global approach to these allergies.
"The research team recognised that more than half of people with peanut allergy can tolerate half a peanut or more, and thought that this group of people might be treatable…
"We were thrilled to find that this treatment strategy was even more successful than we had anticipated."
According to the study published in the journal NEJM Evidence, kids aged four to 14 years old with a peanut allergy were randomly assigned to either test the new treatment method or continue avoiding peanuts.
Most read in Health
The children in the treatment group were told to eat a minimum daily dose of one-eighth of a teaspoon of peanut butter.
They gradually increased their dose every eight weeks over 18 months, which was first supervised by medics.
BBC star who was kicked off flight after demanding other passengers not eat peanuts says she's been left 'humiliated'
After the treatment, a food challenge was set up by the research team.
All 32 kids in the treatment group could eat the maximum of three tablespoons of peanut butter without a reaction.
This compared to only three out of 30 kids in the avoidance group (who the researchers thought had built a ‘natural tolerance’).
None of the children in the peanut-ingestion group needed epinephrine to treat severe allergic reactions during home dosing, and only one child needed it during a supervised dosing visit at the study site.
Because the trial took place during the Covid pandemic and some families preferred avoiding close encounters indoors, some did not return to the study site for the feeding test.
After accounting for this, the research team reported that 100 per cent of the treatment group and 21 per cent of the avoidance group tolerated eating two doses more than they could tolerate at the beginning of the study.
The research team then tested if the results were long-term.
Children in the peanut-ingestion group went on to consume at least two tablespoons of peanut butter weekly for 16 weeks and then avoided peanuts entirely for eight weeks.
Even after 24 weeks, a "sustained unresponsiveness" to peanuts was recorded in 26 of 30 children.
Analysis of data collected from all 73 study participants revealed that 68.4 per cent of the peanut-ingestion group achieved sustained unresponsiveness, while only 8.6 per cent of the avoidance group developed a natural tolerance.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Study lead author Professor Scott Sicherer, of Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital, added: "These study results are very exciting and a huge step forward in personalising food allergy treatment.
"My hope is that this study will eventually change practice to help these children and encourage additional research that includes this approach for more foods."
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON FOOD ALLERGIES?
APPROXIMATELY 44 per cent of people in Britain have an allergy or allergic disorder of some kind, says the charity Allergy UK.
Rates are higher in under-35s and lowest in pensioners.
The most common food allergies, according to the , are:
- Cow milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios and Brazil nuts
- Soy beans, chickpeas and peas
- Shellfish
- Wheat
You may be allergic to a food if it makes you feel dizzy, lightheaded, sick or itchy, brings you out in hives or swollen lips or eyes, or causes diarrhoea, vomiting, a runny nose, cough, breathlessness or wheezing.
Topics