Cure for peanut allergies on the cards as experts successfully treat 40 young babies using immunotherapy
SCIENTISTS believe they may have found a cure for peanut allergies.
Researchers fed 40 babies suffering from allergies with a tiny amount of the nut each day - slowly increasing the dose.
By the end of the trial, nearly 80 per cent of the toddlers were able to eat foods containing peanuts.
What is immunotherapy and why is it important?
Immunotherapy is a treatment that uses the body's natural defences to fend off disease.
Often used to fight cancer, it helps boost the body's immune system using antibodies already developed in the body at a laboratory.
These can then be used by the immune system to attack cancerous cells.
It is also used to slowly build up the body's ability to combat the effects of allergies.
Marshall Plaut, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced the groundbreaking findings from the American centre.
He said: "This study provides critical evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of peanut oral immunotherapy in treating young children newly diagnosed with peanut allergy.”
The children taking part in the trial were aged between nine and 36 months.
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Some reported mild side effects such as pain in their abdomen.
Nut allergies can prove fatal, with between six and eight per cent of British children suffering from a food allergy.
In the worst-case scenario, peanut allergies can cause anaphylaxis, which can kill.
Foods that can contain traces of peanut include biscuits, carrot cake, marzipan, pesto and numerous chocolate bars.
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