buttering up. Some children have a peanut allergy can be fatal.
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For some children, even traces of peanuts can be fatal. But until now, children with allergies to peanuts not have other treatment options that avoid legumes completely. The results of a new clinical trial may change that. The scientists found that feeding small children allergic amounts of peanut protein each day, an approach known as immunotherapy by mouth, can help them lead a normal life.
"This is a very important first step," said Gideon Lack, a pediatric allergist at King's College London, who has not participated. "But I do not think he is ready to go into clinical practice."
About 1% of children in high-income countries like the United States and the United Kingdom suffer from a peanut allergy. Their immune system reacts to proteins found in nuts and in severe cases the reaction can cut breathing or lead to sudden drop in blood pressure, the oxygen starved bodies. The condition puts a lot of stress on families, because even the children who reacted moderately to peanuts in the past may suddenly have an incident of life-threatening, said Andrew Clark, a pediatric allergist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK and one of the researchers involved in the trial. Some studies have shown that exposing children to increasing doses of peanut can desensitize, but some great tests were performed. Some studies in the 190s attempted injecting the antigen into the skin. But the side effects were serious and in a study of one patient died due to dosing errors. "Because of this, people have not touched it 10, 20 years and are now approaching again," said Clark.
Clark and his colleagues started with 49 old allergic children from 7 to 16 years. meals children included a small amount of peanut flour, slowly increasing the dose of 2 milligrams to 800 milligrams (equivalent to about five peanuts). a group of 46 children who had an allergy to peanuts avoided the control nuts. After 6 months, 24 of 39 children in the treatment group who completed the study could tolerate 1400 mg of peanut protein not show a reaction, but no one in the control group might, the authors report today the Lancet . many children suffered from nausea or vomiting, but in general, these side effects were mild and occurred in the first days after a dose increase. "We think we found a diet that works very well, "said Clark, who hopes to offer treatment as part of a" patient program named "within a year. These programs allow doctors to use therapies that are not approved for patients if no other treatment exists. "I think we have an obligation to act on our results," he said.
A group led by Kirsten Beyer, a pediatrician at the Medical University of Berlin Charity, recently completed a test and similar is to analyze the critical results. Beyer study for not using a placebo treatment in the control group. "But it is a big step in the right direction," she said. "We need urgently to other studies on the treatment of peanut allergy. "
Lack also praises the study to be larger and more rigorously conducted than previous tests. But the benefits of treatment are likely to be short term, he warns. "If you stop eating peanuts for a few weeks or even days, and you are re-exposed, you may have a serious allergic reaction." Because of this hazard, avoiding peanuts may still be the best option, he said. But Clark said that the participants seemed to tolerate short gaps, and he hopes to change some of the children who have now been in therapy for 2 years at a weekly dose.
Hugh Sampson, a researcher allergy Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said that further studies are needed to address unanswered questions. For example, the optimal dose is, if there are chemicals that can make the treatment safer, and if long-term negative consequences of therapy. "Although this study adds to growing data on the potential utility of oral immunotherapy for the treatment of food allergy," he wrote in an email, "I'm not sure this study brings us closer to the answers. "
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