An Australian researcher has great news for children with peanut allergies—most of them may be able to enjoy the treat after all.
Professor Mimi Tang, a pediatric immunologist allergist at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, made a splash four years ago with her surprisingly simple and effective treatment of peanut allergies.
She fed 31 allergic children with increasing amounts of a probiotic and peanut protein once a day. After 18 months, over 80 percent of the children were eating peanuts without any adverse reactions.
Four years later, Tang and her team contacted the children again and asked if they still eat peanuts. Not all agreed to participate in the follow up, but of the 24 that agreed, 16 were still eating peanuts.
“The importance of this finding is that these children were able to eat peanut like children who don’t have a peanut allergy and still maintain their tolerant state,” Tang said, according to Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI), which co-sponsored the study with the Australian Food Allergy Foundation.
“It also suggests the exciting possibility that tolerance is a realistic target for treating food allergy,” Tang said. “This is a major step forward in identifying an effective treatment to address the food allergy problem in Western societies.”
