Scientists 'one step closer' to curing nut allergies

Scientists are one step closer to curing nut allergies following the success of a clinical trial, they said today.

Experts gave small daily doses of peanut flour to children with severe peanut allergy to help them build tolerance to the nuts.

By the end of the trial, the children could eat up to 12 nuts a day without suffering a life-threatening reaction in the form of anaphylaxis.

Although the study was small, the team from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge said it represents the world's first successful peanut desensitisation programme.

Andrew Clark, a consultant in paediatric allergy who led the research, said further studies were planned to look at other types of nuts, including hazelnuts and Brazil nuts.

Other foods that seem to be fuelling an increase in food allergies, such as kiwi fruit, would also form part of future trials, he said.

Mr Clark said his team were "definitely" one step closer to finding a cure for food allergies, which he said were on the rise.

In the latest study, published in the journal Allergy, four children were given peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) to help build their tolerance to peanut protein.

The youngsters were given daily doses of peanut flour, starting with tiny 5mg amounts mixed into yoghurt.

Over a period of six months the dose was increased every two weeks until the children could tolerate at least 800mg of the protein.

This was 160 times the starting dose and equivalent to five whole peanuts - or about a teaspoon of peanut flour.

The study is ongoing and now 20 children aged seven to 17 have been recruited in total, with tolerance among some children reaching 12 peanuts a day.

All of the original children are keeping up their tolerance by ingesting five peanuts a day as a "maintenance" dose.

Mr Clark said: "At the moment we know that if they continue to eat five peanuts a day, their tolerance is maintained.

"If they were to stop, then there is some evidence that tolerance would be lost and they may have a reaction."

Mr Clark said the children would be followed for the next three or four years to monitor their tolerance levels and future studies would assess whether the dose could be given as a daily pill.

After three or four years, the body may have adjusted and there could be a more "permanent cure" to the allergy which would mean not having to take peanut flour daily, he said.

He added: "Every time people with a peanut allergy eat something, they're frightened that it might kill them.

"Our motivation was to find a treatment that would change that and give them the confidence to eat what they like.

"All of these children say it has improved their quality of life and they've lost that fear of having an acute reaction if they accidentally eat a peanut.

"Peanut allergy is common - it affects one in 50 young people in the UK - and unlike other childhood food allergies like cow's milk, it rarely goes away.

"For all our participants, a reaction could lead to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
"It's not a permanent cure, but as long as they go on taking a daily dose they should maintain their tolerance."

Mr Clark said it was important that families did not try to replicate the study findings at home.

But he said there was no reason why the clinical trial could not be extended to include adults.

Michael Frost, nine, has been severely allergic to peanuts since he was a baby.
His mother Kate said the trial had been a success.

She said: "It's very hard to describe how much of a difference it's made - not just in Michael's life, but for all of us.

"A peanut allergy affects the whole family. You can't go out to a restaurant.

"If your child goes to a birthday party, he takes a packed lunch.

"When he goes out, you lose control of what he eats - and for so many years, I've had a permanent knot of anxiety in my stomach. Suddenly, those feelings have gone."

Michael is celebrating his 10th birthday next month with a trip to a Chinese restaurant.
Previous peanut allergy trials in the 1990s produced serious side-effects, with children becoming ill.

Those attempts used peanut injections rather than the more gentle oral doses tested in the Addenbrooke's study.

One child in the Addenbrooke's study suffered anaphylaxis in the early stages but went on to be able to tolerate peanuts.

The trial was sponsored by the Evelyn Trust, a Cambridge charity supporting medical research.