This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Eight percent of children and ten percent of adults in the United States have a food allergy! Even the smallest amount of their allergen – like one peanut – could be deadly! What can we do?
Enter Robert Wood from John Hopkins University and team.
They tested whether a drug used to treat asthma could prevent these allergic reactions. Over one hundred kids with at least three food allergies participated. Two thirds received injections of the drug. One third were injected with a placebo. After sixteen weeks, researchers tested whether participants could tolerate eating their allergy-triggering foods.
Results?
Over two thirds of the participants who received the drug could safely consume at least two or three peanuts! Only seven percent of untreated participants could eat this amount! Results were similar for other foods, including milk, eggs, and cashews.
Great. I guess now everyone can go NUTS! But just two or three. Actually, kids… don’t try this at home.
Reference:Wood, R. A., Togias, A., Sicherer, S. H., Shreffler, W. G., Kim, E. H., Jones, S. M., Leung, D. Y. M., Vickery, B. P., Bird, J. A., Spergel, J. M., Iqbal, A., Olsson, J., Ligueros-Saylan, M., Uddin, A., Calatroni, A., Huckabee, C. M., Rogers, N. H., Yovetich, N., Dantzer, J., … Chinthrajah, R. S. (2024). Omalizumab for the Treatment of Multiple Food Allergies. New England Journal of Medicine, 390(10), 889–899. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2312382