Lower Doses of Peanut Immunotherapy Could Make Allergy Tr...

What’s Happening

Listen up: Learn more about peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) and how lowering the treatment dose could help children with peanut allergies.

Children undergoing immunotherapy for peanut allergies may achieve the same results with a lower dose. According to new research from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Montreal Children’s Hospital, a smaller dose of peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) can offer fewer side effects than the current standard treatment while still helping lower the risk of severe allergic reactions if a child is accidentally exposed to peanuts. (shocking, we know)

These findings were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology – In Practice .

The Details

: Want Relief From Your Allergies? Immunotherapy Shots Might Make Sense For You What is Peanut Oral Immunotherapy?

According to the study, about 2 percent of children in Canada have peanut allergies . This is also similar to the U.

Why This Matters

, where about 2 to 5 percent of children have allergic reactions to peanuts, according to University Hospitals. But, peanut OIT may provide some benefit to children with peanut allergies. Peanut OIT involves feeding a patient a specified amount of peanut protein.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

Key Takeaways

• OIT can be a beneficial treatment for children.
• But the standard doses are rather large, and the treatment time can be lengthy.
• Treatments must be monitored by a medical professional as they can lead to anaphylaxis.

The Bottom Line

Because of this, and because a child may dislike the taste of OIT, patients may discontinue the treatment. As such, the researchers hope that dose, they can help make treatments more accessible to patients.

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