A new study shows that some children who suffer from peanut allergies can overcome this problem if they follow a gradual treatment which consists in adding slightly more and more peanuts to their diet.
More than 3 million Americans are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts, such as walnuts. Statistics show that about half of the 150 deaths caused by food allergies in the USA each year are caused by peanut allergies.
For the study, the researchers gave children the lowest dose of peanut flour they could take without a reaction, Wesley Burks, chief of pediatric allergy at Duke University explains.
After two weeks, the children returned to the hospital where they were given tests and were advised to consume larger doses of peanut flour in their food. After these tests, four of the nine were declared ready to stop treatment. Some of the participants were able to eat 13 to 15 peanuts without having any allergic symptoms. Four children of this initial group had little benefit from the gradual exposure, possibly because they had a stronger allergy to begin with, the researchers explained.
Researchers not involved in the study say the findings hold promise but they predict that such daily treatment for peanut allergies might still be 10 years off.
However, researchers caution families should not try this treatment outside a research study.
The study was done in collaboration with the Arkansas Children's Hospital. The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology in Washington.
A study carried out by a team of Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital found that four children severely allergic to peanuts who were gradually given small daily doses of peanut flour on a given period of time, were able to eat more than 10 whole peanuts without having an allergic reaction.
The researchers said the children must maintain their tolerance by ingesting five peanuts a day. If they stop, then the tolerance would be lost and may even have an allergic reaction.
According to recent reports, children are facing more life-threatening allergic reactions to peanuts at much earlier ages than a decade ago. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center determined the median age of peanut-allergic patients between July 2000 and April 2006. According to the new findings, the median ages were much lower than in a similar study of patients from 1995 to 1997.
It is recommended that parents do not give peanuts to children until they are three year old if there is a strong history of allergies in the family. Allergies are very hard to control, especially when children do not know how to express what exactly they feel.
