Could the answer to peanut allergies be more peanuts?
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 by:Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that parents start feeding their children peanuts to rid them of their allergies. But a new study may hold hope for the future for families suffering from peanut allergies. A study out of Duke University has found that feeding children a tiny crumb of peanut every day may eventually help rid them of their allergies.
Researchers took small amounts of peanut protein and gradually increased amounts over a four-month-period. By the end of the study, participants were getting the equivalent of one peanut. “What we’re finding is that children are becoming less sensitive to peanuts,” says head researcher Dr. Wesley Burks. Potentially life-saving news should your child eat a peanut accidentally. “We hope by the end of this study participants will have actually ‘outgrown’ their peanut allergy.”
Some Peanut Allergy Facts:
- Most children experience their first allergic peanut reaction between 14 and 24 months of age.
- Some children react to as little as 1/1000th of a peanut and, in severe cases, it can be life threatening the first time.
- If signs of allergy, such as eczema or other skin conditions, appear before six months of age, there is a one in five chance that your child will develop an allergy by age five.