Researchers develop new treatment that could help kids with peanut allergies

Melbourne researchers have discovered a new treatment that sends some children's peanut allergies into remission.

The Murdoch Children's Research Institute has developed a combination treatment that appears to send the allergy into remission in around half of the children that have the condition.

"We've now shown in this study that it gives you a very significant improvement in quality of life," Murdoch Children's Research Institute Professor Mimi Tang said.

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The key aspect of the new treatment is immunotherapy, which involves the gradual introduction of allergenic food along with a regular dose of probiotic.

"What we found is that adding the probiotic reduced the rate of gastrointestinal side effects, particularly in children aged one to five," Prof. Tang said.

The institute conducted a trial of the treatment that involved two hundred children aged between one and 10.

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It was found that after 18 months of treatment, 51 per cent of those who had received oral immunotherapy and 46 per cent who had also taken a probiotic were in clinical remission.

It meant they could freely eat a standard serve of peanuts without any issues.

"What it means for the patient is that they can stop treatment and introduce peanut into their diet as and when they like," Prof. Tang said.

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Nine-year-old Declan has suffered from a severe peanut allergy since he was four.

After participating in the clinical trial, he is in clinical remission and now eats peanuts regularly.

"Now we just give him his peanut M&M's and he heads off into another room and I don't even feel like I have to be near him, and he just has it and reports back that everything's fine," Declan's mother, Kate Lawlor, said.