ADULTS can beat peanut allergies by eating tiny amounts with medical help and building up a tolerance, an NHS study suggests.
The therapy is already used in children to toughen their immune systems against severe reactions.
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King’s College London scientists say the first trial of the therapy in adults has shown “great success”.
Two thirds of patients were able to eat the equivalent of five peanuts with no reaction by the end of the trial.
People with the allergy should not try eating nuts at home, as doses started at a miniscule 0.8mg of peanut flour before working up to entire nuts.
Study author Hannah Hunter, from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust, said: “Many participants who completed the trial told us that the treatment had been life-changing and they were no longer living in fear.”
About one in every 200 adults in the UK – 0.5 per cent – has a nut allergy.
Reactions can be severe and even deadly as the immune system mistakenly overreacts.
Patients work up from 0.8mg to whole nuts
The new trial involved 21 adults aged between 18 and 40 with a severe peanut allergy.
They first received 0.8mg, 1.5mg and 3mg doses of peanut flour mixed in with other food under the supervision of medics.
If they could tolerate this they gradually increased the amount of nut they ate over weeks and months.
People spent between eight and 23 months in the study, depending on their tolerance and Covid delays.
By the end, most participants – 67 per cent – could eat four or five whole peanuts without reacting.
The average tolerated dose increased 100-fold over the course of the trial
Professor Stephen Till
Professor Stephen Till, chief investigator from King’s College, said: “We are very pleased with the results.
“Constant fear of life-threatening reactions place a huge burden on people with peanut allergy.
“The only way to manage it is strict avoidance and treatment of allergic reactions, including with adrenaline.
“Peanut immunotherapy is known to be effective in children and this trial provides early evidence that adults can also be desensitised.
“The average tolerated dose of peanuts increased 100-fold over the course of the trial.”
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON FOOD ALLERGIES?
APPROXIMATELY 44 per cent of people in Britain have an allergy or allergic disorder of some kind, says the charity Allergy UK.
Rates are higher in under-35s and lowest in pensioners.
The most common food allergies, according to the NHS, are:
- Cow milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios and Brazil nuts
- Soy beans, chickpeas and peas
- Shellfish
- Wheat
You may be allergic to a food if it makes you feel dizzy, lightheaded, sick or itchy, brings you out in hives or swollen lips or eyes, or causes diarrhoea, vomiting, a runny nose, cough, breathlessness or wheezing.
