Being mum to a child with a peanut allergy can be so worrying. With school and crèche it’s hard to monitor every last morsel that goes into your child’s mouth, not to mention that you often can’t be 100% sure the food in restaurants is nut free.
So mums will be hopeful by the news that a team of Australian scientists are confident they’ve found a ‘cure’ for the deadly allergy.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute ran a trial on 62 kids with a peanut allergy with a treatment of peanut protein mixed with probiotics. And encouragingly, it worked on 80% of the children trialled, who were able to tolerate eating nuts by the time the study concluded.
“I believe that the combination of probiotic together with the peanut antigen has helped the immune system drive towards tolerance and away from the allergic response,” says Professor Mimi Tang, head of allergy and immune disorders research at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
“In our trial we enrolled children who had anaphylaxis as well as children who had a milder reaction. The only children we excluded from the study were those with serious anaphylaxis where they had collapsed or had cardiovascular compromise during their previous reaction.
And according to Professor Tang, the results are encouraging.
“This is quite exciting because it is four times higher than the rate of growing out of peanut allergy naturally. If nine children were treated seven would benefit.
“I expect that this treatment can be available broadly to all children in the future.”
