Ten years ago at a kindergarten party, Isaac Judy took abite of a peanut-butter cookie. It tasted weird to him, so he spit it out. Hivessoon appeared on his face. His lips also began to swell. When his dad came topick him up, Isaac was coughing and wheezing. Riding in the car to the otherside of St. Louis, Mo., where they lived, Isaac fell asleep or so it seemed.
When Isaacs mother saw what was happening, she suspectedsomething more serious. He hadnt fallen asleep. He lost consciousness, JaelitheJudy explains. After a trip to the emergency room, her five-year-old recovered.But doctors confirmed her hunch: Isaac has a peanut allergy.
Just a few generations ago, hardly anyone talked about foodallergies. But over the past two decades, childhood food allergies in the UnitedStates have more than doubled. A little more than a year ago, a studyin Pediatrics reported that 7.6 percent of U.S. kids under age 18 havefood allergies. Thats almost 8 million youth about two students per classroom.And its much more than a childhood issue. Surprisingly, a studylast year in JAMA Network Open found that nearly 11 percent ofadults have food allergies, too. More than one in every four of them said they hadnot been allergic to foods as children.
These days nearly everyone has come across a family member orperson who has been touched by food allergies, or has one themselves,says Tamara Hubbard. She works in the suburbs of Chicago, Ill., as a licensedcounselor. Hubbard and a growing number of counselorsare helping families through the stress of managing food allergies.
For years, doctors have told families theres nothing they can do but avoid the trigger food or inject a fast-acting medication called epinephrine (Ep-ih-NEF-rinn) to stop a severe reaction. But researchers are learning more about why some people overreact to certain foods. And new treatments are emerging. Late last month, the first treatment for peanut allergy earned approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Another could do so within a year or so. Scientists also are continuing to develop and test other ways to treat food allergies.
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Allergic reactions occur when the immune system overreacts.Normally immune cells help fight bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. Yetsome peoples immune systems also react to harmless stuff like pollen or mold or peanuts, milk or other foods.
Such run-ins trigger a release of histamine (HIS-tuh-meen) and other chemicals. These molecules get the ball rolling for an allergic reaction, explains Tina Sindher. She works as an allergist at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif.
During an allergic reaction, someone may get itchy anddevelop hives. If the reaction worsens, the person might cough, wheeze andsuffer a whole-body reaction known as anaphylaxis(An-uh-fuh-LAX-iss). Thats what happened to Isaac and to Shea Tritts son,Gaines, in Abingdon, Va.
Gaines peanut allergy surfaced in the fall of 2012. At thetime, he was a baby and his diagnosis put the whole family on edge. For thenext few years he never trick-or-treated. He never went to a birthday party. Iwas scared to put him in preschool, says Tritt. My husband and I had a lot ofstress because he could tell I wasnt letting Gaines do normal things. So wewould argue.
Even Gaines older sister got nervous. If she went to aparty, she worried about bringing back traces of peanut-containing treats that mightsicken her brother, Tritt recalls. Living in such constant vigilance can be emotionallydraining for families with food allergies.
Anxious and desperate, Tritt wondered if her son would outgrow his allergies, and how she could ever find out. I became obsessed with information anything I could do to get us out of this situation, she says.
One day, Tritt saw a TV interview with David Stukus. Hes an allergist at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Stukus saw that many patients with food allergy are fearful. They often are confused because theyre not getting the facts they need. So Stukus opened a Twitter account to spread evidence-based information. Tritt took note.
Looking at her sons blood-test results, year after year, Trittsuspected his immune response to peanuts was lessening. However, blood testscannot give a clear yes or no. These tests detect specialized immuneproteins. They are called IgE antibodies. These molecules trigger allergicreactions. But IgE levels only indicate that someone is sensitive to a certainfood. They cannot predict whether that person will react if they eat it. ProvingGaines had outgrown his peanut allergy would require an oral food challenge. And that would require that the patient eatincreasing amounts of the food while a doctor watches for allergicreactions.
Trouble is, Tritt could not find a local allergist toperform the food challenge. This procedure needs extra time and staff. It also runsa risk of triggering anaphylaxis. So, many clinics wont offer it unless apatients blood results are low low enough to suggest they would tolerate thefood. Gaines numbers had steadily dropped over the years but were still a tadtoo high.
For about half of people with peanut allergies, a bite or two of the wrong food typically contains enough peanut protein to trigger a reaction, notes Brian Vickery. He is a pediatric allergist at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. For these people, he says, 100 milligrams (0.004 ounce) of peanut protein, or about one-third of a peanut kernel, can set off such a reaction.
Vickery used to work at Aimmune Therapeutics. ThisCalifornia company is developing a treatment for peanut allergy. It is calledoral immunotherapy, or OIT for short. The procedure involves each day eating awee bit of peanut protein pre-measured into capsules. The capsule dose goesup every few weeks over a period of months. If the treatment works, it canraise the immune systems threshold for the food. That means it would take moreof the food to trigger an allergic reaction. In other words, its possible for theperson to become bite-proof.
Aimmune tested its capsules or a dummy version called a placebo in 551 children and teens with peanut allergies. The starting dose was half a milligram (0.00002 ounce) of peanut protein. (One peanut contains 600 times that much.) Over a six-month period, the daily dose went up to 300 milligrams (0.01 ounce), or about one peanuts worth. And each day for six more months, participants had to continue eating that much.
During the study, many participants experienced allergicreactions to the peanut pills. Forty-five quit because of these unpleasantsymptoms. But among those who finished the study, two-thirds of the treatedgroup became bite-proof. After about a year, they could safely eat roughlytwo peanuts. Theyre still careful about avoiding peanuts, saysVickery. But it provides that additional margin of safety.
Those results appearedin the November 2018 New England Journal of Medicine.
Based on these and other findings, the FDA approved thosepeanut capsules on January 31.
Over the past decade and prior to the FDA approval, a small number of allergists had already started offering OIT using store-bought foods. Tritt found one such clinic several hours away. However, that clinic was not willing to give her son a peanut challenge to confirm whether he still was allergic.
Tritt didnt want to sign her son up for a long, costlytreatment if he might in fact be outgrowing his allergy.But they couldntknow for sure without the gold-standard test, that oral food challenge.
She discussed her dilemma with Stukus on Twitter. ReviewingGaines blood-test results, Stukus agreed to conduct the food challenge. Justbefore Gaines started kindergarten, his family travelled from Virginia to thedoctors clinic in Ohio. It was a nine-hour drive.
Gaines started the challenge with a small, laughableamount of peanut butter, Tritt recalls. Fifteen minutes later, he ate a bitmore. Then some more. Over several hours he chomped a dozen Reeses peanutbutter cups. And he never reacted.
The test proved Gaines had outgrown his allergy. That makeshim one of the lucky few. Many children outgrow some food allergies by the timethey enter school. But eight out of every 10 kids with allergies to peanuts or treenuts will remain allergic.
Gian Lagemann, a high school senior in Saratoga, Calif., isallergic to 11 kinds of nuts, including peanuts (which actually is not a nut; its a legume). When hestarted kindergarten, his mother brought no nuts allowed signs to theclassroom. She asked other parents to tell her whenever they brought in food so she could make sure it was safe for Gian. Every day Gian ate his lunch at adesignated peanut-free table.
Several years ago, Gians mom told her son about a peanutOIT trial. The study was starting nearby at Stanford University. For most ofmy life, I havent been able to eat things where the ingredient labels say maycontain peanuts or processed in a facility with peanuts, Gian says. Onceshe explained that [after the trial] Id be able to eat those foods, I waspretty happy. I was sold.
At the start of the trial, his family bought a bag of peanut flour. For about six months, Gian took his dose each day after dinner. He doesnt like the taste of peanuts. So he often mixed his dose into a spoonful of chocolate ice cream. The dose started at 1.3 milligrams of peanut protein (about 1/200th the amount in a peanut). Over the six-month trial it went up to 240 milligrams (0.008 ounce, or a little less than one peanuts worth).
More broadly, some 8,000 U.S. patients havetried such an oral therapy. Typically, about one in five will withdraw becauseof side effects or anxiety. Completing such a trial takes focusand discipline like playing sports. But, Gian recalls, They told us withevery dose we took, our body was just going to get stronger.
Participants also learned to expect some allergic reactions.If youre going to build your immune muscle against a food allergy, you knowyoure going to have a little ache during the process, says Kari Nadeau. ThisStanford allergist was a leader of the trial.
Gian felt a few such responses during the study. My throat would feel a little tight for 15 minutes, he says. But after that, it was fine. So he persevered. And it paid off. When the trial ended, he could eat a full peanut without having an allergic reaction. That means Gian now can safely eat candy with labels warning theyre made in facilities that process nuts. I was able to try Kit Kats for the first time, and Milky Ways, Gian says.
Two years ago, Isaac also tried this oral peanuttherapy. At the time, he was 13. But his experiences were quite different.During the treatment he suffered sinus and gastrointestinal troubles. He alsohad an anaphylactic reaction. Six months in, Isaac dropped out. He quit becausehe had developed an immune condition called eosinophilicesophagitis (Ee-oh-sin-oh-FILL-ick Ee-SOF-uh-JY-tis). The oral therapy triggersit in a small share of people.
And theres something else to keep in mind:People could lose their desensitization to peanut once they end the oraltherapy. That finding was confirmed in a 2019 study by Nadeaus team. Formany people, effective treatment might have to continue long-term.
Some people have taken part in research trialstesting a different treatment for peanut allergy a skin patch. Instead ofeating bits of peanut by mouth, patients every day stick a coin-sized disc ontotheir back or upper arm. Each disc contains a quarter-milligram of peanutprotein. Thats about a thousandth as much as whats in a peanut. (Bycomparison, Aimmunes capsules start with twice that much. Over months,patients then take doses that increase to 1, 10, 20, 100 and 300 milligrams.)From the patch, peanut proteins seep through the skin but do not enter theblood. Peanut patches are therefore less likely to cause anaphylaxis than is theoral therapy.
DBV Technologies in France makes the patch. This company conducted a year-long trial of its product in 356 children with peanut allergies. Nine in every 10 participants finished the trial. The most common side effect was a skin rash at the patch site. However, this trial didnt work as well as the company had hoped. By the end of the study, only a little more than one in every three patients treated could safely eat the exit dose of one to three peanuts. The study leaders reported their findings in the March 12, 2019 Journal of the American Medical Association.
Still, the patch has worked wonders forsome. In 2012, Sharon Wong was desperate. Her sons allergies to peanuts andtree nuts had intensified to an alarming degree. Once during a shopping trip,he went into a coughing fit while walking past a batch of freshly baked walnutcookies. At a restaurant buffet, he started vomiting after merely looking at asteamy tray of pesto pasta. (Pesto is made with pine nuts.)
It was really awful, recalls Wong. Wecannot control the air he breathes. But we didnt want to keep him confined athome. We wanted him to be able to go shopping, to go down the street, to go tofriends homes and not stress about his allergies.
That year she enrolled her son, then nine years old, in an earlier-stage peanut patch trial in the San Francisco Bay area of California. At first, it took just 1/240th of a peanut to trigger an allergic reaction. After two years on the patch, he could tolerate about six peanuts.
We feel more comfortable about travelinglonger distances and dining in restaurants with precautions in place, Wongwrote in a blog about the patch trial. Each mini-success gives usconfidence and improves our quality of life. My son is happier and healthier.
In August, the FDA plans to review data on the peanut patch and recommend if it should be approved. DBV Technologies is also researching and developing patches to treat milk and egg allergies. And as for oral therapies, Aimmune recently started a new trial for its egg-allergy treatment. The company is also developing an oral therapy for walnut allergy.
Scientists are studying other related approaches, too. One is an immune therapy that uses liquid droplets containing allergens. These are placed under the tongue rather than swallowed directly. Edwin Kim, an allergist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill, led one study of children treated for three to five years with this sublingual therapy. All had peanut allergies. Of the 37 kids who completed the study, two in every three could now consume 750 milligrams (0.03 ounce) or more of the peanut allergen. Kim, whose center has helped conduct studies for DBV and Aimmune (among other companies), reported the findings last November in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Additional experimental treatments block other parts of theimmune response to allergens. Some act together with oral therapy, allowingfewer allergic reactions during therapy. Others supply helpful gut microbesthat seem to guard against food allergies. And one company is developing atoothpaste to treat peanut allergy.
In the end, each family must decide whether to seek anemerging treatment or stick with just avoiding exposure to the sensitizingfoods. Treatments require diligence. Theyre not yet widely available. And theydont always work. But if the allergy is unbearable, trying a new treatment mightprove worth the time and risk. Clearly, concludes Stukus, the Ohio doctor, food-allergymanagement is not one-size-fits-all.
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