Feeding children with peanuts to treat food allergy exposes them to a risk of serious allergic reactions

A promising treatment for allergy to peanut
can actually pose a risk of serious allergic reactions. The researchers found that giving small amounts of peanuts to children to cure their allergy could put them at risk for anaphylactic shock.
Giving microdoses of peanut allergen can increase the risk of anaphylaxis
In a new study published in The Lancet
Researchers discovered Thursday that people who took peanut allergen microdoses to partially desensitize them over time were three times more likely to suffer from anaphylaxis compared to those receiving a placebo.
People allergic to peanuts have a risk of anaphylaxis of 7.1%, which causes a narrowing of the airways and makes breathing difficult.
Analysis
Data from 12 trials involving more than 1,000 participants, however, shows that the risk increases up to 22% when they take drugs containing small amounts of peanut compounds.
The researchers said the reaction could be attributed to the treatment itself and not to accidental exposure to food.
Food allergies are unpredictable
Oral immunotherapy, which involves feeding an allergic person by increasing the amount of allergen to increase the trigger threshold of the allergic reaction, has yielded promising results in some trials involving patients allergic to peanuts.
The researcher of the study, Derek Chu, of McMaster University in Ontario, however, stated that there were differences in the way researchers measure results in the controlled environment of A research study and what is happening in the real world.
The new study found that some patients had allergic reactions to the doses of the treatment they had already tolerated in the past.
Chu says food allergies
can be unpredictable. Catching a cold or taking medication on an empty stomach can affect the functioning of immunotherapies.
"This protection you get going through immunotherapy – that can change every day," said Chu.
. "It can change the way your body interacts with the food you're supposed to have been insensitive to."
Chu, who is also allergic to peanuts, said the findings suggest that more research is needed to treat peanut allergy.
"This is really the first big attempt to try to treat peanut allergy, which is a fundamental step, and we should celebrate it," he said.
. "But like anything else in medicine, in technology, or in life, the first time you do something, it's not necessarily perfect."
Peanut and nut allergies currently affect at least 3 million people in the United States.