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Emily says that she can now eat birthday cake with friends
A large study shows that peanut allergy can be countered by a treatment that slowly increases tolerance.
None of the 500 young people aged 4 to 17 from the United States and Europe could tolerate a tenth of a peanut.
But after taking small daily doses for one year, two-thirds could tolerate at least two whole peanuts.
Six-year-old Emily Pratt told the BBC's Today program that it made a big difference. "I could not have birthday cake in the evenings and now I can," she said.
She can now tolerate about seven peanuts, which means that she can eat food safely, even if they may contain peanut traces.
Food labels
Emily's mother, Sophie, from North London, said, "It's a constant stress.
"We were very surprised to see that you can find traces of peanuts and nuts in all kinds of foods, especially children's foods – cakes, cookies, ice creams – and that's it. which was stressful.
"We had to constantly study food labels to make sure that peanuts were completely eliminated from Emily's diet.
"Her allergy was very serious, so even a small amount of peanut could cause a very serious reaction.
"The impact on our family life has been huge."
Accidental exposure
The British chief researcher for the Palisade study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Professor George Roof, consultant at Evelina London Children's Hospital, said: "The results of this groundbreaking study are very promising and suggest that we will be able to protect peanut allergic children from severe reactions after accidental exposure.
"This is very good news as the number of peanut allergies diagnosed in the UK has more than doubled in the last two decades.
"Peanut allergy is extremely difficult to manage for children and their families because they have to follow a strict peanut-free diet.
"Families live in fear of accidental exposures because allergic reactions can be very serious and even lead to death."
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