Doctors closer to finding cure for nut allergies

Published on Thursday 19 February 2009 21:03

SCIENTISTS are one step closer to curing nut allergies following the success of a clinical trial.

Medics gave small daily doses of peanut flour to children with severe peanut allergy to help them build tolerance to the nuts. By the end of the trial, the children could eat up to 12 nuts a day without suffering a life-threatening reaction in the form of anaphylaxis.

While the study was small, the team at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge said it represented the world's first successful peanut desensitisation programme.

Andrew Clark, a consultant in paediatric allergy, who led the research, said further studies were planned to look at other types of nuts, including hazelnuts and Brazil nuts. Other foods that seem to be fuelling an increase in food allergies, such as kiwi fruit, would also form part of future trials, he said.

Mr Clark declared his team was "definitely" one step closer to finding a cure for food allergies, which he said were on the rise – one in 50 young people in the UK has a peanut allergy.

In the trial, the youngsters were given daily doses of peanut flour, starting with tiny 5mg amounts mixed into yoghurt. Over six months, the dose was increased every two weeks until they could tolerate at least 800mg.

All the children are keeping up their tolerance by ingesting five peanuts a day as a "maintenance" dose, and they will be monitored for the next three or four years.

Future studies will assess whether the dose could be given as a daily pill.

The research was published in the journal Allergy.