Eating peanuts will eliminate a peanut allergy? What do you think about this one?
A recent study in the US showed that there has been a breakthrough in finding a way to cure or to help eliminate peanut allergies.
The experiment took place in February meeting at the American Association for Advancement of Science, with whom Andrew Clark from Cambridge University tested on 23 peanut allergic children and actually fed a precise amount of crushed peanuts everyday. Ok let’s stop right there! You must have a 101 questions going through your mind just reading this!
How can that be possible, knowing that an allergy to peanuts is quite deadly!
Well according to this experiment, in the beginning of the experiment the typical reactions were as those of you know who are allergic to peanuts, itching, coughing, and reddening of the skin. In a time of 3 months, some of these children were able to eat 5 peanuts a day without any reaction and by the end of the year they were able to eat 32 peanuts a day without any reaction.
This can be something that we allergy precautioners may be able to look forward to. However, would you really want to put yourself with an allergy reaction on a daily basis before getting rid of the allergy altogether? I would assume that there may come some type of cure where you wouldn’t have to go through all these steps and rid of the peanut allergy once and for all. I have experienced allergy reactions first hand and trust me, if I can avoid them at all costs I would!
“The experimental treatment, called oral immunotherapy, aims to desensitize the body to allergens like peanuts by training the immune system to make peace with them. Most food allergies — whether to peanuts, eggs, milk or shellfish — are a result of the immune system misidentifying a food as a dangerous toxin. The body wages war with the invader, and the by-product is an allergic reaction — anything from a minor itch or swelling to a severe asthma attack, which in extremely rare cases and if left untreated can lead to death. Immunotherapy is designed to build up the body’s tolerance to such “toxins” by gradually increasing patients’ exposure to them over several weeks or months, says Hugh Sampson, who runs the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai. “We start at the microgram level, scale up to milligrams and may end with grams [of peanuts],” says Sampson, but he warns people not to try the program at home. “Every patient has an adverse reaction when we increase the dose,” and in severe cases, the patient may need immediate medical attention.” *-Time.com You can read the full article here
If you have any concerns or comments, we would be glad to hear from you!
The Peanut Free Girl
Comments