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Tiny study suggests peanut allergy can be overcome

An interesting read...

"Doctors in Britain are closer to finding a cure for severe nut allergies, according to a study published Friday.
A research team at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge exposed children gradually to tiny amounts of peanuts over six months to build up their tolerance.
It is the first time such a desensitization program has been used to treat a food allergy.
Four children — who risked fatal anaphylactic shock from contact with traces of peanut — took part in the study published in Allergy.
The children were initially given a dose of five milligrams but by the end were able to tolerate 880 milligrams — equal to five peanuts.
"We've shown it works. We've shown it can be done safely. Now we're at the stage where we need a larger trial and perhaps a control group, so that we can show it has a large effect," said Dr. Andy Clark, the study's lead researcher.
The research provides hope for the one in 50 young people in Britain with a nut allergy, he added.
"Every time people with a peanut allergy eat something, they're frightened that it might kill them. Our motivation was to find a treatment that would change that and give them the confidence to eat what they like," Clark told
the Guardian.
Thirteen-year-old Carl Morris took part in the study. "I got pretty scared when I was eating things with traces of nuts, but now I can just freely explore different foods that may have killed me before,"he said.
Kate Frost is the mother of a nine-year-old boy who participated in the study. "It's very hard to describe how much of a difference it's made, not just in Michael's life, but for all of us," Frost told the BBC. "A peanut allergy affects the whole family. You can't go out to a restaurant. If your child goes to a birthday party, he takes a packed lunch."
It's estimated that more than 150,000 Canadians suffer from peanut allergies. About two per cent of people can have an anaphylactic reaction to an allergen, and peanut"

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/02/20/peanut.html

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