Childhood lunches are often associated with the ubiquitous staple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but this meal may prove deadly to some. Peanut allergies is one of the fastest growing allergies worldwide and exposure to this nut can trigger an anaphylactic reaction, causing airways to swell and blood pressure to drop dangerously low.
The first line of defense has always been a strict and vigilant dietary management- avoidance of the peanut. Recent studies, however, are showing that a form of immunotherapy may help get rid of allergy to peanuts within 5 years.
One approach is to gradually increase the dose of peanut to train the immune system to cope, eventually tolerating the allergic trigger. Another approach is genetically modifying peanut proteins, rendering the new peanut no longer a peanut, to change one’s immune response.
How promising these treatments will be is still unclear, though the research is interesting …as nutty as it sounds!
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