People with peanut allergies may have protection solution

People with peanut allergies may have a new way to protect themselves from severe allergic reactions, new research suggests.

A tiny dose of peanut protein under the tongue can offer safe and substantial protection against the allergy, scientists say.

Called sublingual immunotherapy – or SLIT – the treatment sees the minuscule amount of liquefied protein absorbed immediately into the bloodstream.

The aim is to desensitise the immune system to larger amounts of peanut protein.

Published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the research indicates SLIT could offer patients a safe and effective way to protect themselves from severe allergic reactions or even anaphylaxis.

Author Edwin Kim, assistant professor of medicine at the North Carolina University School of Medicine, said: “As a parent of two children with nut allergies, I know the fear parents face and the need for better treatments.

“We now have the first longterm data showing that sublingual immunotherapy is safe and tolerable while offering a strong amount of protection.”

Over the years, clinician scientists have developed three main immunotherapeutic ways to treat nut allergies – all of them attempting to desensitise the immune system.

According to Dr Kim, around 100mg of peanut protein can trigger a reaction, about the same trace amount people fear can show up in food manufactured in a facility that processes peanuts.

One peanut kernel contains around 300mg.

Dr Kim added the main idea of immunotherapy is to keep people, particularly children, “safe from the small hidden exposures that could occur with packaged foods, at restaurants, and with other food exposures”.

With SLIT, instead of having patients ingest peanut protein, doctors place a small amount of peanut protein under patients’ tongues, where it is immediately absorbed.