Staving Off Peanut Allergies

Peanuts and walnuts. Yay.

Photo credit to Vizzual.com

Having a sister who is allergic to peanuts, I was surprised to find a recent article about an experiment discovering a possible peanut allergy cure. As the peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies, the common and widespread use of peanuts in everyday foods makes it particularly dangerous.

And how do they cure this peanut allergy, you ask. Well, it's something along the lines of making your immune system just look dumb. Technically, it's not peanuts themselves that are dangerous to people that are allergic; it is actually the immune system's reaction to peanuts, which we know as anaphylaxis. It's not extremely common, as the National Institutes of Health estimates 15,000 to 30,000 anaphylaxis episodes in the United States every year, and 100 to 200 deaths. But there's no treatment available for these allergies, and severe reactions can include sudden constriction of the airways, a drop in blood pressure, shock, and eventually loss of consciousness or even death. So, as none of that sounds particularly comfortable or safe, scientists have been rummaging around for a way to shut down these allergies.

Researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine tried to create a peanut tolerance in otherwise peanut-allergic mice by attaching the source of the allergy (peanut proteins) to the blood cells of the mice. In an allergic person, the body would recognize these proteins as invading pathogens and trigger anaphylaxis.When the peanut protein was introduced into the body attached to one of the body’s own cells, however, the immune system learned to not attack these cells and the mice became temporarily “cured” of their peanut allergy.

Researchers say these findings could have future implications for treating food allergies, though this method has only been tested in rodents. A cure for food allergies in humans is not close at hand, cautions Dr. Clifford Basset, medical director at Allergy and Asthma Care of New York. “Bottom line: There is no cure for food allergies, at least in 2011, and in the foreseeable future. Its all about education, prevention and preparedness,” says Basset.

I say he's just being a little pessimistic. Or maybe I'm overly optimistic. Either way, there must be some way to safely treat peanut allergies, as it is still a little awkward to eat Kit Kat bars around my sister even if she claims that she hates them.

You can learn a little more about this possible cure from this article.

A peanut plant. I never knew they looked like this.

Photo by Joseph Hill

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Lily