Researchers may have found a way to cure children of severe peanut allergies, the most dangerous food allergy. The small study is the first to show that food allergies, dangerous reactions to certain foods that can result in death by anaphylaxis, may be overcome by controlled daily doses of the offending food. However, as this is a preliminary study, parents and physicians should NOT attempt this treatment yet.

Scientists were able to induce long-term peanut tolerance by exposing a small group of children with severe peanut allergies to increasing amounts of peanut flour over a period of months. The technique, called oral immunotherapy, is similar in principle to the "allergy shots" available for airborne allergies: the body is exposed to small amounts of an allergen and over time, the body adapts to it.

In the study, 29 children with severe peanut allergies spent a day in the hospital swallowing very small but slowly increasing doses of a specially-prepared peanut flour, up to the point where they started to have a reaction. After that, the children and their parents were sent home with a supply of the peanut flour and instructions on how to take a daily dose just under the amount that caused a reaction. For the severely allergic, this is usually around the equivalent of 1/1,000^th of a peanut. Over a period of eight to ten months, the daily dose of peanut flour was gradually increased until the children could tolerate the equivalent of 15 peanuts worth of peanut flour. Thereafter, the children continue to take a constant daily maintenance dose.

Some of the children in the study have been on maintenance therapy for 2.5 years. After completing a series of challenge tests involving real peanuts, four of these children were able to stop the daily treatments and eat peanuts normally.

The children were also tested for their levels of peanut-specific IgE antibodies, the body molecules that cause them to react to the peanuts in the first place. At the study outset, most of the children had IgE levels greater than 25. At the end of the study, their peanut IgE levels were less than 2 and have remained low.

The researchers caution that the technique is still under study and warn parents and physicians NOT to attempt it on their own. Because only a small number of individuals participated in the study, more research is needed before scientists can be confident in the results. Also, it is possible that some patients may have allergy symptoms so severe that the treatment may not work.

Only time will tell if the effects of the treatment continue to last. For now, the four children who were able to stop the daily peanut flour doses have been instructed to eat the equivalent of a tablespoon of peanut butter each day to ensure that they remain allergy-free. A study currently underway is examining the effect of the peanut flour treatment compared to a control group not receiving the treatment.

Want to learn more about food allergies? Join the Healia Support Group Community for Food Allergy. You can also read the Healia Health Guide to Allergies. For information on seasonal allergies, consult the Healia Health Guide to Outdoor Allergies.

_{Photo: EuroMagic, Flickr, Creative Commons}