According to the European Center for Allergy Research Foundation (ECARF Foundation), peanut allergy is one of the most common forms of food allergy. Treatment options include hyposensitization, for example with the drug Palforzia. Are cooked peanuts also an alternative for peanut allergies?
Around 0.2 percent of the total population suffer from a peanut allergy and thus react allergically to the storage protein Ara h 2 it contains. The manifestation usually begins in childhood and lasts for the rest of the lives of the majority of those affected. The problem: Peanuts are one of the foods that can cause particularly severe reactions, although those affected do not consume much of it. “Sometimes small amounts of one milligram are enough,” warns the ECARF Foundation. For comparison: A peanut weighs between 500 mg and 1 g.
In order to prevent allergic reactions up to and including anaphylaxis, hyposensitization is discussed in addition to avoiding foods containing peanuts. A new study answers whether boiled peanuts are also an option for people with peanut allergies.
Fun fact: Peanuts are nuts in name only. Botanically, they are legumes.
Allergy sufferers can tolerate 12 g of peanuts per day
Researchers at Flinders University in Australia in a one-armed Phase II study investigates how the consumption of cooked peanuts affects peanut allergy in children and whether this can lead to desensitization. For this purpose, the participating children between the ages of six and 18 were initially given peanuts as a powder twice a day for a period of twelve weeks, which had previously been boiled for twelve hours. The participants then received boiled nuts for two hours over a period of 20 weeks. The conclusion was another 20-week phase in which the children ate roasted nuts. The daily dose was gradually increased.
The result: At the end of the study, 80 percent of the subjects were able to eat roasted nuts without symptoms, up to the maintenance dose of twelve nuts per day (equivalent to around 12 g and 3,000 mg of peanut protein). Thus, a significantly higher sensitization might be demonstrated than in studies on the intake of Palforzia with a total of 1,000 mg peanut protein.
Palforzia (peanut protein, Aimmune) has been approved in the EU since 2020 as a medicine for the treatment of peanut allergy in children aged 4 to 17 years and patients who will reach adulthood during the course of treatment. However, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) only has one for the preparation assigned little additional benefit.
The conclusion of the researchers: “Oral immunotherapy using cooked and then roasted peanuts is a pragmatic approach that appears to provide effective desensitization and is associated with a favorable safety profile.” reduce of peanuts. However, the administration should not be done on your own, but under medical supervision. In addition, further studies are needed.
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