Desensitizing Children With Peanut Allergies

Daily dose of peanuts has been so successful as a therapy for peanut allergies that a select group of children is now off treatment and eating peanuts daily

This gives other parents and children hope that we'll soon have a safe, effective treatment that will halt allergies to certain foods." Long-term tolerance in children with peanut allergies was documented for the first time by the presence of key immunologic changes

About four million Americans have food allergies, and allergies to tree nuts and peanuts are the most common. Life-threatening reactions can occur from exposure to even a trace amount of peanuts, and nearly half of the 150 deaths attributed to food allergies each year are caused by peanut allergies. incremental doses of peanut protein could change how the body's immune system responds to its presence.

The doses start as small as 1/1000 of a peanut. Eight to 10 months later, the children are ingesting the equivalent of up to 15 peanuts per day. The children stay on that daily therapy for several years and are monitored closely.

some people are too sensitive to peanut allergens to be able to undergo the therapy.

Notes: The studies were funded by the National institute of Health, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, Food Allergy Project, Gerber Foundation and the Robins Family Foundation.