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Nut allergy study 'closer to cure'
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Scientists are one step closer to curing nut allergies following the success of a clinical trial, they have said.
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 trial was sponsored by the Evelyn Trust, a Cambridge charity supporting medical research.
