CHICAGO, Ill. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish, and shellfish — the list goes on. There are more than 32 million people, including children, who have food allergies in the U.S. One bite of the wrong food could kill them. New oral immunotherapy were approved just as COVID was hitting, so researchers worry that not everyone is aware of them.
A popsicle is safe for Adelina Ziemann, but not everything is.
“I was throwing up and my skin was really rash-y,” Adelina remembers after a reaction.
Adelina is allergic to peanuts, and she knows all too well that she can’t enjoy everything her little sister Zoe can.
Her mom, Amanda Ziemann recalls another time Adelina had a reaction.
“She and her friend got into a bag of what they thought was M&M’s but were Reese’s pieces,” Amanda tells Ivanhoe.
One in 50 kids have a peanut allergy like Adelina. It’s the most likely food to cause a reaction. In fact, there’s been a 21 percent increase in peanut allergies in children since 2010.
New immunotherapy, or OIT, is the latest therapy that slowly introduces tiny doses of the forbidden food.
Allergist and immunologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Melanie Makhija, MD, explains, “We actually start with 1/600th of a peanut.”
In 2020, the FDA approved the first treatment for kids four to 17 with a peanut allergy. Palforzia is a drug made from peanut flour.
“The goal of oral immunotherapy is to trick the child’s body into thinking they’re not allergic,” Dr. Makhija further explains.
A recent study found that 72 percent of people who suffer from a life-threatening peanut allergy didn’t even know OIT existed.
After one year of OIT, Adelina can now eat one peanut’s worth of protein a day.
“Every morning, I mix in peanuts with something else and I have to eat it,” Adelina tells Ivanhoe.
Patients, like Adelina, who begin OIT, will need to continue to expose themselves to small doses of peanut protein for the rest of their lives or the life-threatening reactions could return.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer & Editor.
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Sources:
https://www.aafa.org/allergy-facts/
https://www.slhd.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/resources/allergy/peanutallergy.pdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171027085541.htm
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: ORAL IMMUNOTHERAPY: TREATING FOOD ALLERGIES ONE TINY BITE AT A TIME
REPORT: MB #5099
BACKGROUND: A food allergy is a medical condition in which exposure to a food triggers a harmful immune response. The immune response, called an allergic reaction, occurs because the immune system attacks proteins in the food that are normally harmless. The proteins that trigger the reaction are called allergens. Researchers estimate that 32 million Americans have food allergies, including 5.6 million children under age 18. That’s one in 13 children, or roughly two in every classroom. About 40 percent of children with food allergies are allergic to more than one food.
(Source: https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/facts-and-statistics)
DIAGNOSING: Symptoms of food allergies typically appear from within a few minutes to a few hours after a person has eaten the food to which he or she is allergic. A severe, life-threatening allergic reaction is called anaphylaxis. Symptoms of allergic reactions can include hives, flushed skin or rash, tingling or itchy sensation in the mouth, face, tongue, or lip swelling, dizziness and/or lightheadedness, difficulty breathing, and loss of consciousness.
NEW TECHNOLOGY: New food allergy treatments are on the horizon, notably for biologic medications. Multiple studies are underway evaluating whether biologic medications can help increase the amount patients with food allergy can consume before having an allergic reaction. Other studies are evaluating biological therapy with oral immunotherapy (OIT). There have been several studies with Xolair evaluating its ability to allow patients to have a higher threshold for reactivity to an offending food. Studies with peanut have found an increase in the tolerated peanut dose, but severe reactions were seen along the way. However, one study reported an increase from 80 mg to 10,000 mg (35 peanut kernels) after six months. Other studies showed an 8-fold increase in milk, egg, wheat, and hazelnuts with Xolair. There is a current study called the omalizumab as monotherapy and as adjunct therapy to multi-allergen OIT in food allergic participants (OUtMATCH).
(Source: https://allergylosangeles.com/allergy-blog/new-food-allergy-treatments/)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Julianne Bardele
(312) 227-4265
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