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Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

theguardian.com

41–50 of 174 posts

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#41

When in her teens, my daughter developed a peanut allergy during her time in drum corps such that it was confirmed with skin patch tests and she had to carry an epi-pen. After about a year it just went away and she's back to "normal".

Several years ago, I developed a bad allergic reaction to mango. Hyper sensitive skin that will rash and welt with the slightest irritation, such as sitting in a car and wearing a seat belt. This will last for over a month. I carry an EpiPen in case my throat swells shut. I know allergies can come and go, so I may no longer be allergic, but I dare not find out.

Mango skin has a similar allergen as that in poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac. My sister cannot touch the skin w/o getting a rash. However, if it's already peeled she can eat it w/o issue. I understand this is not uncommon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango#Potential_for_contact_de...

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#42
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, so yogurt REALLY is a Bulgarian thing! In France, we've always had a slew of "Bulgarian taste" yogurts, which are usually slightly acidic in taste (and which I enjoy a lot) and I've always wondered if it was just a marketing thing or grounded in reality.

Yogurt's homeland is Bulgaria, and if it doesn't have Streptococcus Thermophilus and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, it's not yogurt, but just a form of fermented milk. It has to be tangy and, in fact, in Bulgarian, its name is literally "sour milk". After joining the EU, our traditional manufacturers started to westernize yogurt, and now we have all kinds of fruit-sweetened forms, and the country's taste is shifting via t…

Isn't Yogurt a common thingy in various countries. At least, in India it is known to have been used for a long time (specifically the clarified butter derived from the yugurt[1]).

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghee

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#43
post #25
post #4

Yumm... I can't wait for the shellfish version! I would love to try shrimp again and find out what all the fuss is about with lobster.

I'm not sure what the fuss is about lobster, but I would hate to give up crab and oysters. I love standing around a fire in the winter shucking and eating oysters.

Lobster is like crab but better and with a much better time spent cracking shells to time spent eating food ratio. If you've eaten lobster crab just feels like a waste of time and effort (but it's less messy so it lends itself better to being eaten in a restaurant).

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#44
post #18

Can we derive that Lactobacillus rhamnosus could reduce all kinds of allergies when taken, even without adding proteins that you are allergic to?

What I understand is that no, because the probiotic is just a digestive support and used in the study as being a 'supportive' agent. The real actionable item is adding the allergen intentionally and increasing the dose over time.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#45

Could this be made to work on allergies in general? The article suggests it could at least be used for food allergies in general.

I just searched for the bacteria mentioned in the article and it seems that you can simply BUY that online and even many other types of bacteria. Here's a link for the curious https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-probiotics-lactobaci... I am in no way affiliated and recommend looking the company and products up.

Anyway I've a severe allergy against figs and hope I can one day eat them again.

I have never heard of these kind of bacteria and thought that probiotics is a scam in that it replaces your gut bacteria with ones that are genetically modified so that you "feel" bad without re-consuming them. I think it sounds crazy, while being in the technically possible realm with no law against that.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#46
post #32

Does anyone know the history of why allergists assumed this just wouldn't work for decades? I'm assuming they initially tried this at the dawn of the allergist specialization but gave up due to bad practices / deaths? I only ask because it seemed to have been general knowledge that this was impossible / couldn't be done up until recently. As a outsider looking it, it seems quite obvious, but that's just due to naivet…

I'm relatively 'new' to allergies, but from some of the conversations with doctors there was a fear that repeated reactions (even minor) could be priming the body for worse reactions. This obviously goes against the results we are seeing now, but don't forget this is a very new area of study - people were only first diagnosed with food allergies in the 60s.

The original trial (I believe) came from a study that saw a certain Jewish community that eats a lot of powdered peanut, had a higher incidence of children losing their nut allergies. So the environment helped to prime these children.

My kid has allergies, and over the last 2 years we've seen the advice change rapidly - from initial suggestions to keep him away from anything that might cause him hives (soft play centres etc) to now where they encourage that (though obviously we still keep him away from eating allergens.

He had a laundry list of allergies that he responded to on his skin prick test last year, but his results yesterday were so much better - with the possibility that he only has 4 core responses left (peanuts, sesame, milk, egg) - with time still to lose those over time (he's only 3). We've been giving him loads of probiotics, namely Water Kefir - but no idea if he would have grown out of them anyway.

Happy to have a stab at any questions people might have - but I'm no expert, just a (reasonably) well read dad - my wife know far more than me about this.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#47
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yogurt's homeland is Bulgaria, and if it doesn't have Streptococcus Thermophilus and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, it's not yogurt, but just a form of fermented milk. It has to be tangy and, in fact, in Bulgarian, its name is literally "sour milk". After joining the EU, our traditional manufacturers started to westernize yogurt, and now we have all kinds of fruit-sweetened forms, and the country's taste is shifting via t…

Isn't Yogurt a common thingy in various countries. At least, in India it is known to have been used for a long time (specifically the clarified butter derived from the yugurt[1]). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghee

Ghee is clarified butter and has nothing to do with yogurt. Now, when the native to Bulgaria bacteria has been spread around the globe, yogurt is available worldwide, but not until recently.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#48
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yogurt's homeland is Bulgaria, and if it doesn't have Streptococcus Thermophilus and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, it's not yogurt, but just a form of fermented milk. It has to be tangy and, in fact, in Bulgarian, its name is literally "sour milk". After joining the EU, our traditional manufacturers started to westernize yogurt, and now we have all kinds of fruit-sweetened forms, and the country's taste is shifting via t…

Isn't Yogurt a common thingy in various countries. At least, in India it is known to have been used for a long time (specifically the clarified butter derived from the yugurt[1]). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghee

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/from-bulgaria-to-east-as...

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#49
post #35
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have to convince me that lobster is a Veblen good. Yes, it's often priced as a luxury good once you get away from the New England coast--and sometimes even there--but that's not the same thing as saying higher prices increase demand. I expect the restaurant selling $25 lobster rolls would sell more if they were a more reasonable $12 but they might not make as much money. I do like lobster when the price is reas…

We used to use Lobster as prison food / dog food because nobody liked it. It's mostly a tasteless meat which has become more popular as westerners have shifted to blander foods. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/26/394339284/how...

Well, it was extremely plentiful and cheap--which led to a sort of stigma being attached to it. Lobster is also very delicate; if it's not prepared super-fresh, it's not very good.

Food fashions aren't always rational though. It seems to have become popular largely when people from New York and DC started vacationing up in New England in the 1800s.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#50
post #32

Does anyone know the history of why allergists assumed this just wouldn't work for decades? I'm assuming they initially tried this at the dawn of the allergist specialization but gave up due to bad practices / deaths? I only ask because it seemed to have been general knowledge that this was impossible / couldn't be done up until recently. As a outsider looking it, it seems quite obvious, but that's just due to naivet…

Medical momentum is a crazy thing. You should see how long it took hand washing to catch on.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/12/37566392...

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