British study results point to a possible treatment for those suffering with peanut allergies.


CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 20, 2009) ITN -
Children with severe peanut allergies given small daily doses of
peanut flour were able to build tolerance to the nuts, according to a study
that suggests it is possible to treat the potentially deadly condition.

The small trial, the first successful programme of its kind, aimed to
slowly build immunity to peanuts in people with the common allergy, the team
at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge said on Friday (February 20).

Nine year-old Michael Frost, a nut allergy sufferer, participated in
the trial and now can eat peanuts without any severe reaction.

His mother, Kate Frost described the effect an eighth of a peanut had
on him.
"It was smaller than an eighth of a peanut and he got covered head
to toe in hives," Michaels mother, Kate Frost said.

At the start of the trial, the children were given a five milligram
serving of peanut flour. This was slowly built up over six months until the
volunteers trained their bodies to tolerate at least 800 milligrams,
equivalent to five whole peanuts.
"We definitely had some children who reacted to less than a one
two hundredth of a whole peanut. These were very sensitive kids, we started by
giving them that dose and working up, very very slowly to an enormous, a
relatively enormous dose to 800mg of protein which is equivalent of five
peanuts. And now we've challenged these kids to a further five peanuts and
found they can tolerate it," Andy Clark, who led the research published
in the journal Allergy, said.

Allergies to peanuts or any other food occur when the body's immune
system mistakenly sees compounds from the foods as invaders and creates
antibodies to fight them.

Scientists say peanut allergies are on the rise world-wide, but nobody
knows why. There is no cure and people with the condition must avoid even the
tiniest amount of food containing the nut.

Previous attempts to gradually build people's immunity to nuts failed
after producing serious side effects, possibly because the trials involved
injections rather than the more gentle oral doses the Cambridge team used, the
researchers said.
"We give them the peanuts and we ask them to take them every day
at the moment. There's a suggestion that if they stop within a year or two the
allergy could come back. So what we are looking to do is fund a further study
to look at long term treatment, to see if we can stop the treatment after two
or three years. And perhaps that might give them long term protection,"
Clark added.

Kate Frost said the results from partaking in the trial have made life
so much easier.
"It's just a sheer relief. It's fantastic and I am just so glad we
got on to being on this research."

Four children took part in the initial study and a further 18 young
people aged 7 to 17 are now following the programme. The researchers said in
future there was no reason why adults with severe peanut allergies could not
also go on the programme.