In case you missed it, a new study was released this week about a discovery that may lead to a way to prevent peanut allergies. Allergy specialists and pediatricians are saying that while more research is required, the research is transformational because it has never been done.
For anyone who lives with peanut allergy or has a family member with peanut allergy, they know how difficult it can be to simply “avoid” nuts. In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics advised children to avoid peanuts altogether. Instead of monitoring and avoiding peanuts, the researchers introduce a new method for preventing the allergy ““ exposure at a young age.
The study on CNN.com took 628 babies who were prone to developing peanut allergy, and either gave them small weekly doses of peanut-based products, or avoided peanuts. For the children that avoided peanut-based products, 14 out of 100 developed the allergy by the age of five. For the children on the peanut diet, two out of every 100 became allergic.
“Peanut allergy is a very real and ever increasing health concern. Yet very little is understood in terms of how we can prevent this potentially life-threatening condition in our children. It is encouraging to see new trials, such as the LEAP trial, delving deeper into these issues,” said Dr. Jennifer Ernst-Pierson, a St. Elizabeth Physicians pediatrician.
Right now, once a child has been diagnosed with peanut allergy, there is no “cure” or treatment the child can undergo that will eliminate the allergy.
“Although additional research is still needed before global recommendations can be made, it gives pediatricians hope that we will one day soon be able to advise parents on ways to reduce the likelihood that their child will become allergic,” said Ernst-Pierson.
According to the America College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, nearly 400,000 school-aged children have peanut allergy, so for them and their parents, hope is a good place to start.
