They say that when you're allergic to peanuts, you will forever be allergic to it. Well, not anymore. A study has revealed that once tolerance is established to those children, who may be at a higher risk of developing peanut allergy, there is a good chance for it to last.
For the study, the children were given peanuts for several years as part of a supervised clinical trial. It was revealed that these children have maintained their tolerance for over a year even if they don't continuously eat peanuts, upi.com reported. According to Dr. Sherry Farzan, an allergist with Northwell Health in Great Neck, New York, who wasn't involved in the research, said that the study continued, and after 12 months the recipient of the clinical trial didn't have any allergic reaction. "They maintained their ability to tolerate peanuts, even though they hadn't been eating it," she added.
Another expert, who's not included in the study, Dr. Scott Sicherer, a pediatric allergy specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City who also isn't part of the study explained that the immune system eventually "learns" that peanuts are not a threat to the body, and children won't have to continuously eat peanuts to maintain that tolerance.
According to US News, the two doctors cautioned that this allergy prevention strategy should only be done with a doctor's supervision. The doctors know how much peanut can challenge the immune system without triggering an allergic reaction, and can step in when any untoward reaction occur. Sicherer also repeated that this prevention strategy only applies to those who are at risk of peanut allergy and not to those who are already allergic to peanuts.
This study is a continuation of the groundbreaking clinical trial known as Learning Early about Peanut Allergy (LEAP). The same trial discovered that feeding peanuts to babies who are at risk for at least 60 months decreases their risk of developing the allergy. The study determined an infant's risk of being allergic to peanuts using an allergy skin test.
Video Credit: youtube.com/Associated Press
