Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by gehwartzen » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 4:52 PM UTC

Icedcool wrote: post #44

manmal wrote: 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.

That's not entirely true. The study itself lists several previous works that only introduced the peanut allergen in varying amount over time. The results of those studies show that yes the body increasingly builds antibodies while the allergen is introduced but those effects diminish rapidly after the treatment is stopped.

The importance of this work is that with the simultaneous introduction of this bacteria the effect is maintained for years. The bacteria plays a important role in allowing the body to retain the immunity.

"Moreover, because there was no convincing evidence that allergen OITalone was effective in promoting sustained unresponsiveness at the time our randomized controlled trial (RCT) was designed and initiated, we elected to undertake a clinical trial evaluating whether coadministration of Lactobacillus rhamnosus CGMCC 1.3724 (NCC4007) and peanut OIT can induce sustained unresponsiveness to peanut among children with peanut allergy (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN 12608000594325, 25/11/2008). This probiotic was selected based on its demonstrated tolerance-promoting effects, including induction of regulatory T and TH1 cytokine responses."

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

#112

Post by eric_h » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 4:52 PM UTC

sageikosa wrote: post #61

Retric wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

It holds butter real well, without it soaking in too much.

This. Lobster is an excellent vehicle for butter.

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

#113

Post by BenjiWiebe » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

JohnTHaller wrote: post #107

wyldfire wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to own cats but I would like to cope better with visiting cat-owners' homes. You seem to describe some sort of DIY immunotherapy for cat dander? Can you go into details?

Not DIY. I went to an allergist, found out what I was allergic to, then they inject you with gradually increasing amounts of what you're allergic to weekly in their office. There are risks, as you could have a bad reaction. If you do, you down 1/2 a bottle of Benadryl and go to the ER if necessary. I had one bad reaction in the 2 years I did shots and a double dose of Benadryl fixed it.

Nowadays some immunotherapy clinics require you to have an EpiPen along or they refuse to give you your shot. Source: currently getting immunotherapy shots

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

#114

Post by tmaly » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 4:58 PM UTC

My daughter is allergic to eggs, salmon, and fish in that similar family. Having vegan options in this modern day has been a real help.

I started my food side project https://bestfoodnearme.com with the idea in mind that I can catalog dishes at restaurants based on allergies, gluten free etc. Allergic reactions are a very scary thing especially with small children.

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

#115

Post by will_brown » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 4:58 PM UTC

yerkan wrote: post #109

will_brown wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>From what I've read gut bacteria could be a contributor to gluten intolerance. It wouldn't surprise me, the human microbiome (which includes bacteria) out numbers cells in the human body something like 100:1. They call it the second brain and just reading about some of the studies should be eye opening to many. For example, some mental health issues can be treated through the stomach and alternatively certain gaster…

> It wouldn't surprise me, the human microbiome (which includes bacteria) out numbers cells in the human body something like 100:1. Fake news! [1] [1] https://www.nature.com/news/scientists-bust-myth-that-our-bo...

Ok Donald, the ratio may be off, but your own linked article does in fact conclude microbiobial in the human body outnumbers cells (just slightly) and the study you linked isn't very clear in that it discusses just bacteria which is only part of the microbiome.

Further, the ratio has little to do with the actual function which is the major takeaway. Nice fake account btw!

Edit: from your article, “It is good that we all now have a better estimate to quote,” says Peer Bork, a bioinformatician at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, “But I don’t think it will actually have any biological significance.”

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

#116

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 5:03 PM UTC

giarc wrote: post #84

gehwartzen wrote: post #78

The AAP also recently changed its guidelines for introducing peanuts to babies based on a study [1] showing a pretty dramatic decline in the development of the allergy with early exposure vs total avoidance. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1414850#abstract

We've created this fear in parents that they must keep peanuts away from their child. My colleague wouldn't bring peanuts into the house with her first child and by age 3 her son still hadn't eaten peanut butter or any other peanut products. She wanted to introduce peanut butter to him and went as far as bringing him to the Children's Hospital emergency department and gave him a tiny amount of peanut butter while sit…

> I thought, and tried to explain to her, that a 3 year old in daycare probably has been exposed to peanuts already

Prior to the recent AAP recommendation (and possibly still after it) many daycares had nut-free policies as a selling point.

> This idea of introducing the food in an ED waiting room is probably something spread on mommy forums such as BabyCenter.

Introducing an allergen with ready access to medical care may be an overreaction, but is hardly problematic.

It's the delay in introduction which is problematic, and which research suggest drove the big upswing in incidence of peanut and some other allergies.

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

#117

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 5:07 PM UTC

azernik wrote: post #95

gehwartzen wrote: post #78

The AAP also recently changed its guidelines for introducing peanuts to babies based on a study [1] showing a pretty dramatic decline in the development of the allergy with early exposure vs total avoidance. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1414850#abstract

For a bit of extra anecdotal evidence - in Israel a common easily-digested semi-junk food is Bamba, peanut puffs. Rates of peanut allergy are very low there. What you have instead is milk allergies, and briefly doctors recommended delaying introducing milk to infants. (This advice has also changed.)

That's actually, according to something I read a while back (sorry, don't remember the source), not just an extra anecdote, it's the observed fact which motivated the study that led to the AAP changing it's recommendation.

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

#118

Post by nucleardog » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 5:10 PM UTC

6d6b73 wrote: post #30

Spacemolte wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds really interesting, that's one of those things i would never even have thought about. Can you elaborate on what dog food you used before and after?

I also would not suspect that this could help, but we noticed that he did not react to my sister' dog, that has a very strict diet (below) but was reacting to other dogs. So it made sense to try switching the diet before giving up on the dog. Before my dog was getting a mix of dry and "wet" food, from various companies, and occasional scraps from the table. Currently we only feed him dry food from Orijen, and plan on…

A bit of anecdata - but all of our animals (few dogs, couple cats) have shed significantly less and had a much healthier looking coat once we switched them to better foods.

The reduction in shedding going from kibble that's primarily rice and corn to something that's actually nutritionally appropriate ingredients for a dog/cat was astounding (but should have been unsurprising).

My understanding is that pet allergies are generally allergies to the shed hair and skin, so a healthier diet may have reduced that significantly.

(For anyone curious, a basic analysis of a "cheap" food: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/alpo-dog-food... And a basic analysis of a "good" food: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/acana-singles...)

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

#119

Post by ljf » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 5:11 PM UTC

grb423 wrote: post #97

When I was a kid I never heard of peanut allergies. What happened? Did children's guts change? Did peanuts?

My personal point of view: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15036246

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

#120

Post by AdmiralAsshat » Thu, Aug 17, 2017, 5:15 PM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #39

My daughter has Celiac disease. It was diagnosed at age 4 when her growth chart showed she did not gain a single pound and grew ¼" from age 3-4. We did a biopsy of her small intestine and it was completely smooth. (Should be almost like velvet) Herblood levels also showed high sensitivity to gluten. We have her on a strict gluten free diet and she has since followed the growth chart perfectly. However she is sensitiv…

I've had several roommates with Ceiliac, and it can be a challenge, but it's not insurmountable. The biggest problem at first was, quite frankly, laziness on the part of other roommates in not cleaning up after themselves and leaving out a knife or cutting board that had been used to cut bread. It took a couple of talks and clear warning that no, this is not a joke, you will kill her if you continue to do this. We alleviated some of it by just chipping in to buy her a separate, labeled cutting board just for her.

Hardship at restaurants is a common thing, when people are inflexible. I felt bad for her sometimes because her boyfriend would insist on going somewhere he wanted to go, even if she wasn't able to eat anything there beyond a salad. There will probably be more of an emphasis on cooking at home, but, even then, friends and roommates can be part of it if they're just willing to make a few simple tweaks. We even managed to make fried chicken that she could eat just by tracking down a gluten-free breading option.

To boot, she's got about ten years or so before she's out on her own and this becomes her sole responsibility. My experiences are about five years old at this point, and we've already come a long way since then. In 2011, the most widespread "gluten free" option was Chipotle. Now, I see a gluten free menu at pretty much every sit-down restaurant I've gone to.