Peanut allergy hopes

Findings could be ‘life-changing’ for kids

EATING boiled peanuts could help children overcome peanut allergies, “promising” Australian research has found.

Scientists tested the “novel” therapy on 70 children allergic to peanuts, with 80 per cent of the group able to eat 12 roasted peanuts without a reaction after the year-long program.

Before beginning treatment the children, aged six to 18, had a mild to moderate allergy, including some with a history of anaphylaxis.

The treatment, published in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy, began with small, slowly increasing amounts of peanuts that had been boiled for 12 hours, taken twice a day for 12 weeks.

Participants then had peanuts which had been boiled for two hours for 20 weeks, followed by another 20 weeks of roasted peanuts.

Flinders University and South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak said boiling peanuts changed a key peanut protein that “drives” our body’s allergic response.

“The body doesn’t recognise it (the protein structure) as well,” he said. “Boiled peanuts are much safer to be able to provide to children and help the body build tolerance.”

He said the study was exciting because it could potentially provide a safer first step to oral immunotherapy.

“There’s no approved therapy or treatment for peanut allergy in Australia, but there are therapies that have been approved internationally,” he said. “We want to try and make it safer and more effective.”

He said while 61 per cent of children in the study experienced some sort of reaction throughout the year, the majority were extremely mild.

“Only three of the children had a severe reaction (required adrenaline),” he said.

“That’s much lower than we see in other literature.”

The treatment did not mean children could eat endless jars of peanut butter, but he said the ability to safely eat 12 peanuts was “life-changing” for kids and their families.

“We’re not promising a cure,” he said. “(But) even incremental gains can have a profound impact on quality of life. “It provides a high level of protection against accidentally biting into a chocolate bar with peanuts and having an allergic reaction.”

Assoc Prof Grzeskowiak said this was the first study of this size and hopes the “promising findings” can be tested in an even larger clinical trial, but warned immunotherapy required close medical supervision and parents should not boil peanuts on the stove at home for their allergic children.

“It’s highly specialised,” he said. “Your child could die.”