Oral Immunotherapy Effective Treating Peanut Allergies

A majority of children with peanut allergies who received an oral immunotherapy (OIT) were able to suppress allergic reactions, a recent study discovered.

Approximately 80% of preschool-aged children with peanut allergies included in the study were able to incorporate peanut-containing foods after peanut OIT, which involves consuming gradually increasing amounts of peanut protein each day. The study, which was published by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, included 40 children aged 9 to 36 months who had peanut allergies.

The participants would either receive high-dose peanut OIT (target of 3000 milligrams of peanut protein per day) or low-dose peanut OIT (target of 300 milligrams of peanut protein per day). Most patients experienced mild side effects, such as abdominal pain, but typically did not require treatment.

Patients received OIT for an average of 29 months, and then avoided peanuts for 4 weeks prior to reintroducing it into their diets, according to the study. Researchers found that 80% of participants reintroduced the allergen with no immune response.

They also discovered no differences between patients who received low-dose and high-dose OIT.

OIT-treated participants were 19 times more likely to successfully incorporate peanuts into their diet, compared with peanut-allergic children who did not receive OIT, according to the study.

Researchers will continue to monitor the OIT-treated participants to analyze long-term outcomes, the study concluded.