Peanut allergy is one of the most common allergies in the world, but unfortunately, it is also considered as one of the most severe of all. People who experience this can have severe allergic reactions, which could lead them to their death. The good thing is, experts have recently able to determine an option, which could be used as a treatment for millions of those who are suffering from it.
"I think that we're looking at going from right now where there's no approved treatment for food allergy, to a landscape where probably in a few years we'll have a couple of options to offer our patients," Corinne Allison Keet, who is the pediatric allergist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, shared.
The study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that giving a small amount of peanut to children who are suffering from peanut allergy can help them develop allergic resistance only if the dosage is increased every day.
The research, which was conducted for almost a year, involved 551 people with peanut allergy aged 4 to 55 years. According to the Washington Post, most of them were children who are 4 to 17 years old.
During the entire research, a quarter of participants received placebo, and the remaining received an oral dose of what they called AR101. This AR101 is given in the form of powder, which is made from peanut proteins. This peanut protein powder is developed by a California-based pharmaceutical company named Aimmune Therapeutics.
The Participants who were given peanut protein powder started their oral dose from a milligram a day until they've reached the maintenance dosage of 300 milligrams, which is also equivalent to one peanut.
The result showed people's allergic tolerance of those who were given peanut protein powder has drastically improved, as posted by News Observer. Throughout the study, some of them can already ingest an equivalent of two peanuts safely. Others are four.
Co-author of the study and vice chair of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Food Allergy Committee Dr. Jay Lieberman said it is important to take note that this is not a cure for peanut allergy. This study doesn't assure people with a peanut allergy that they will never experience allergic reactions anymore. "This is not a quick fix, and it doesn't mean people with peanut allergy will be able to eat peanuts whenever they want. But it is a breakthrough," he said.
