Food allergy: Peanut allergy remission possible in children

Food allergies are more common in children than in adults, with one in 10 infants and 5-8 per cent of kids allergic to some type of food. This drops to 2-5 per cent of adults.

During three trials led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), around half to three-quarters of children who received proprietary novel immunotherapy achieved remission to peanuts.

"It allows children to be free from allergen avoidance, they don't have to continue maintenance dosing of a treatment and they get the choice to eat their allergen if they want," MCRI allergist immunologist and immunopathologist Professor Mimi Tang said.

"We're striving towards making available a treatment that can induce clinical remission of allergy.

"There is a company that's been spun out of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute that's trying to develop this treatment. We're trying to raise capital to move forward to a phase three trial."

Each year around 50 per cent of children with a food allergy will accidentally eat their allergen, and with no definitive cure people are simply told to avoid their allergy.

Despite how serious food allergies can be for some people, treatments are not focused on reducing deaths, Professor Tang said.

"It's not about reducing deaths because they're so rare. It really is about improving quality of life, reducing the burden [and] the shackles of living with a food allergy," she said.

"Avoidance itself causes quite a lot of social and dietary limitations for the family - they can't go to restaurants, they find it difficult to travel," she said.

"Lifestyle restrictions, the anxiety and the psychological distress of an accidental reaction, together lead to this severely reduced quality of life."

Eight food groups cause more than 80 per cent of food allergies in Aussies. They include egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, fish, shellfish and soy.

The most common allergen in very young children is eggs, but this tends to drop off by the time they reach school age.

"As you move into adolescence and adulthood you start seeing predominantly peanut, tree nut, fish and shellfish allergies. These tend to be lifelong, you don't tend to grow out of these," Professor Tang said.

Genetics and the environment are significant factors in whether you're going to have an allergy.

"If you have a parent or both parents with allergy problems, your likelihood of having one of the allergy problems is higher," Professor Tang said.

This can be any one of the allergy conditions such as eczema, asthma, hayfever or food allergy.

"Rates of allergy problems, particularly food allergy, have increased exponentially in the last two decades, much more quickly than can be accounted for by changes in genes. It must be due to changes in the environment," she said.

Researchers believe a baby's microbial exposures, both in the womb and during their few years of life, have an impact on the likelihood of having an allergy.

"This early stage of immune development is critical. Microbial exposures during this early stage of immune development seem to have a lasting impact on your lifetime risk for allergy problems," she said.

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Poor diets and pet ownership increase the chances of an allergy, but those with more siblings have less chances of developing allergic reactions.

"We think that's [more siblings] to do with children bringing home bugs from the environment and school," Professor Tang said.

Introduce solid foods from six months of age to allow natural tolerance responses to establish.

"When you eat a food your gut immune system's default response is to become tolerant to it, so we encourage parents to introduce foods early into their child's diet," Professor Tang said.

When introducing foods, be aware of any reactions your child might have.

IgE-mediated allergy - This is a quick reaction, usually within 15 minutes to an hour. This can be hives, swelling and vomiting. In some cases there can be breathing problems or collapse (anaphylaxis) and this is potentially life threatening.

Gut allergies - delayed symptoms, usually hours or days later, such as tummy pain, diarrhea or irritability. These can be more difficult to diagnose.

If you see symptoms in your child see your GP.