Nut-cracker! Scientists have developed a new therapy that can protect children from dangerous effects of peanut allergy by slowly building up their tolerance.
The therapy for peanut allergy has been successful in the majority of the 99 children who took part in a trial conducted by researchers at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, UK.
Allergy experts found that 84 and 91 per cent of the two groups of children treated with this new form of immunotherapy could eat at least five peanuts a day.
People with peanut allergy risk anaphylactic shock or even death if they become accidentally exposed to peanut, researchers said.
The fear of accidental exposure in food reduces their quality of life and severely limits the social habits of allergic individuals, their families and even their friends.
The research involved young people, aged between seven and sixteen, eating daily doses of peanut protein.
Starting with a tiny dose and slowly building up over four to six months, they trained their bodies to tolerate the equivalent of five whole peanuts.
Peanut allergy affects over 10 million people across the globe. Unlike other childhood food allergies, such as cow's milk, peanut allergy rarely goes away.
"Before treatment children and their parents would check every food label and avoiding eating out in restaurants," Dr Andrew Clark who led the study along Dr Pamela Ewan.
"Now most of the patients in the trial can safely eat at least five whole peanuts. The families involved in this study say that it has changed their lives dramatically," said Clark.
"This large study is the first in the world to have had such a good outcome, and is an important advance in peanut allergy research," said Ewan.
The study was published in The Lancet journal.
