Boiled peanuts could help kids overcome nut allergies, Australian researchers say

Boiled peanuts may provide a way to help children overcome peanut allergies, according to results of a year-long Australian clinical trial.

In a trial of 70 children aged 6-18 with documented peanut allergies, 80% were able to eat the legumes without an allergic reaction after receiving increasing daily doses of boiled and roasted peanuts , a potential treatment known as oral immunotherapy.

However, trial officials cautioned parents against feeding boiled peanuts to their children allergic to peanuts.

In the first part of the study, for 12 weeks, children nts ingested doses of boiled peanuts for 12 hours. For the next 20 weeks, participants ate boiled peanuts for two hours; this was followed by 20 weeks of ingesting roasted peanuts.

Initial doses in the clinical trial were supervised by medical practitioners for adverse effects. The children were initially given 62.5 mg of crushed boiled peanut powder, the equivalent of about one-sixteenth of a boiled peanut, and increased their intake over time.

Of the 70 children, 56 – or 80% – were finally able to ingest the target dose of 12 roasted peanuts per day without an allergic reaction.

“ This provides a high level of protection against accidental exposure, which in our case was really the goal - to eliminate the anxiety and stress that comes with worrying about accidental exposures to peanuts,” the author said. principal of the study, Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak of Flinders University and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. /p>

Sign up to Guardian Australia's free morning and afternoon newsletters for your daily roundup

Peanut allergies are estimated to affect up to 3% of children in Western countries.

One ​​of the co- The study's authors, pediatric immunologist Dr. Billy Tao of Flinders University, previously showed that boiling peanuts appears to reduce the allergenicity of the proteins they contain.

"Essentially the protein starts to unfold in a way that the body...no longer reacts," Grzeskowiak said. "So you get this reduction in the severity of the allergic response to exposure to the 'boiled peanut."

Grzeskowiak stressed that the trial results represent a potential treatment but not a cure.

"It is necessary to continue using or being exposed to peanuts to continue to have this tolerance."

He added that of 45 children who were followed six months after the end of During the trial, 43 still ate peanuts regularly. "None of these children had reported severe allergic reactions...due to the treatment but also to unintentional exposure."

Despite the success of the trial - which did not include children with a history of extremely severe reactions - Grzeskowiak discouraged people from feeding their peanut-allergic children boiled peanuts at home.

"It's really important that people don't get into the immunotherapy without having an appropriate level of supervision. At this point, it's part of experimental studies,” he said.

The researchers did not test the participants' ability to tolerate peanuts from the weeks or months after discontinuation of treatment.

"We are aware that the use of boiled...