Hopes for peanut trial

A POWDER sprinkled on food every day may cure severe peanut allergies. The powder has traces of the proteins in peanuts that can trigger potentially fatal reactions.

A trial is under way to find out whether consuming gradually increased amounts of the powder every day for 20 weeks will increase patients’ tolerance to the point where they can eat small amounts of nuts. Scientists say the powder can be made to contain precise doses of nut protein, up to 300mg.

About one in 100 people in the UK has a peanut allergy, with reactions as severe as anaphylactic shock.

Anthony Frew, a professor of allergy and respiratory medicine at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, said the effects might be temporary, and warned: “You may have to keep consuming this powder for life”.