Most people who are allergic to peanuts are also allergic to tree nuts. Someone with a less sensitive allergy may be able to tolerate certain co-products, such as peanut oil, but most aren’t so lucky. Even trace amounts of peanut products can set off a reaction.

"At the start of the study, these participants couldn't tolerate one-sixth of a peanut," Dr. Wesley Burks, chief of Duke’s Pediatric Allergy and Immunology division, said in a press release following the first trial. "Six months into it, they were ingesting 13 to 15 peanuts before they had a reaction."

Co-author Dr. Tamara Perry, of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, explained to Health Day that this research is not meant to help people eat peanuts, but to help prevent the severe reactions that come with accidental ingestion.

A peanut allergy can cause skin reactions (such as hives or swelling), diarrhea, and nausea/vomiting. It can also cause lightheadedness, a stuffy nose, or itchy, watery eyes. In more extreme reactions, blood pressure may drop to dangerous levels and cause difficulty breathing, sometimes resulting in loss of consciousness.

Researchers from Duke University ran several tests investigating the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatment. Fifteen children ate small amounts of food with peanut ingredients in slowly increasing amounts every day.

Although there were several reactions over the course of the study, children could safely consume 5,000 milligrams (about 15 peanuts) by the experiment’s finish. Eight of these children were re-tested after four weeks away from the program, and all were able to eat peanuts safely.

"Of course the ultimate goal would be to promote tolerance that would allow these patients—children and adults—to eat peanuts,” Perry told Health Day. “The immunotherapy work being carried out now shows a lot potential promise in that direction."

The success of Duke’s peanut immunotherapy treatment is hopeful, but more testing is needed to determine whether some of the effects were a result of children growing out of the allergy. Research is still in the early stages and should not be tried at home.

Read more about Duke’s research in the Duke University article.