Peanut Allergy Is Curable, Finally!

Peanut allergy is among the most common, and deadliest, allergy in the US.

Read the back of any food label, and there is a good chance that you will find a notice on it saying that the ingredients of the product were processed in a factory with peanuts. This isn’t normally a problem, unless you happen to be allergic to them.

Some people are so sensitive to this type of snack food that they can go into immediate anaphylactic shock from just the powdery residue of a peanut touching their lips. And unlike other types of allergies, it doesn’t get better over time. So the recent discovery of a cure for peanut allergies is a big deal for those who have suffered from the condition for years.

Probiotics Are the Key

When children with peanut allergies were given a special blend of probiotics that contained a small amount of peanuts mixed in, over 80% of them no longer had an allergic reaction to them. So the treatment acted in a similar way to how immunizations defend the body from diseases. But the most amazing part is that the resistance to peanuts didn’t wear off afterward. When the children were checked four years later, they were still able to eat peanuts without the usual shortness of breath, swelling, and difficulty swallowing that they would normally struggle with.

To be sure of the accuracy of the study, researchers did double-blind testing. And they varied the amount of peanuts that each child ate. This allowed them to see if higher amounts of peanuts could possibly trigger a reaction.

Since the results of this medical research were so impressive, there is a chance that it could be used to help people suffering from other types of allergies too. However, further testing is still needed to know if the results are truly permanent. The data was only collected for four years. So only time will tell if the children in the study will become re-sensitized to peanuts.

Image Source: Maxpixel

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.