Peanut allergies could be prevented within five years

Last updated at 11:33 02 May 2008


A form of immunotherapy that could prevent people from being allergic to peanuts is likely within five years, an expert revealed yesterday.

Dr Wesley Burks, a food allergy expert at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, US, wrote in the Lancet medical journal that a solution could be on the horizon.

Peanut allergies appear to be on the increase and they often appear in the first three years of life.

The reaction some people suffer when eating them ranges from a minor irritation to a life-threatening, whole-body allergic response called anaphylaxis.

Only about one in five children lose their peanut allergy, while most grow out of other allergies, such as dairy or eggs.

Dr Burks said: "I think there's some type of immunotherapy that will be available in five years.

"And the reason I say that is that there are multiple types of studies that are ongoing now."

He revealed the therapy would change a person's immune response to peanuts from an allergic to a non-allergic state.

Possible approaches to reach this goal include using Chinese herbal medicine or using engineered peanut proteins as immunotherapy, said Dr Burks.

However, he said the latter option would probably turn the peanut into another type of nut or "you could end up with a soybean".

This is because several peanut proteins are involved in the allergic response and the lack of these would mean the end result would no longer be a peanut.

He questioned why there was an increase in peanut allergies and one theory he highlighted was "hygiene hypothesis".

This is where too little exposure as a child to infectious agents could raise a person's weaknesses to allergic reactions.

Symptoms of peanut allergies include itching around the mouth and throat, stomach cramps, shortness of breath, wheezing and, in severe cases, anaphylaxis.

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