Boiling Peanuts Aids in the Treatment of Peanut Allergy

Boiling peanuts could be the secret to helping youngsters overcome peanut allergies, reveals a new study.

Highlights:

Peanuts are one of the most frequent dietary allergens in the world, affecting roughly 3% of children in Western countries
Currently, there is no approved treatment for peanut allergy
Boiling peanuts may be a safe and successful way for treating peanut allergy in children over time with consecutive doses of boiled and roasted peanuts

Boiling peanuts for up to 12 hours could help children overcome allergic symptoms, according to the findings of a clinical experiment conducted by Flinders University and SAHMRI. Up to 80% of children with peanut allergies became desensitised to eating peanuts.

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‘Boiling peanuts for up to 12 hours could help children overcome allergic symptoms. Up to 80% of children with peanut allergies became desensitised to eating peanuts.’

Overcoming Peanut Allergy in Children

The clinical trial, funded by the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation in South Australia and published in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy, investigated whether a therapy delivering sequential doses of boiled peanuts followed by roasted peanuts could help children overcome peanut allergies.

The trial expanded on previous research by senior author and Flinders University’s College of Medicine and Public Health Associate Professor Tim Chataway, who discovered that heat changes the protein structure and allergic properties of peanuts, making them less likely to cause a severe allergic reaction.

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Oral Immunotherapy Helps Overcome Peanut Allery

“Small and increasing doses of boiled nuts were first given to children to partially desensitise them, and when they showed no signs of an allergic reaction, increasing doses of roasted peanuts were then provided to increase their tolerance in the next stage of treatment,” says Dr Chataway.

The researchers requested 70 peanut-allergic children (6-18 years) to consume boiling peanuts for 12 hours for 12 weeks, 2 hours of boiled peanuts for 20 weeks, and roasted peanuts for 20 weeks to achieve this multi-step technique known as oral immunotherapy.

This unique two-step therapy was evaluated with the expectation of subjects swallowing 12 roasted peanuts without allergic responses regularly.

According to the findings, 56 of the 70 (80%) participants got desensitized to the intended dose of peanuts. Although 43 (61%) of participants reported treatment-related adverse events, just three withdrew from the trial as a result, indicating a favorable safety profile.

Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak of Flinders University’s College of Medicine and Public Health and South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, the study’s lead author, says that with up to 3% of children in Western countries suffering from peanut allergies, this clinical trial could help develop a novel treatment pathway to reduce the risk of accidental peanut exposure and significantly improve quality of life for peanut-allergic children and their caregivers.

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Safe and Effective Method for Treatment of Peanut Allergy

“Our clinical trial shows promising early signs in demonstrating that boiling peanuts may provide a safe and effective method for treating peanut-allergic children with sequential doses of boiled and roasted peanuts over an extended period,” says Associate Professor Grzeskowiak, Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation Fellow in Medicines Use and Safety.

“With no currently approved treatment for peanut allergy in Australia there is a lot more research to be done. Unfortunately, oral immunotherapy does not work for everyone, and we are in the process of improving our understanding of how these treatments work and what factors can influence how people respond to treatment. This will be important for assessing individual suitability for treatment and improving treatment decisions in the future.”

The study was carried out in partnership with Paediatric Allergist Dr Billy Tao, who has spent the last decade inventing the unique desensitisation approach to treat peanut allergies after being inspired by similar studies in the 1990s.

The study’s authors conclude that, while these findings show significant potential for making current techniques of oral immunotherapy safer and more effective, validation in a larger definitive clinical trial is required.

Source-Medindia

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