New study finds affordable cure for some peanut allergies, offering hope to thousands

Some people allergic to peanuts can tolerate small amounts. While for others, any exposure can be deadly. For decades, all these patients have been lumped together with the same management option -- avoidance.

Now a new study points to a potential, inexpensive cure for this higher tolerance group.

At the Food Allergy Institute in Signal Hill, training the immune systems of patients to tolerate different forms of allergens is a main part of their practice. Using AI technology and DNA sampling, CEO and founder Dr. Inderpal Randhawa customizes safe and efficient dosing strategies.

"We're able to treat them and get them to the finish line, openly consuming peanuts in a very short period of time," he said.

In a new National Institutes of Health trial, Mt. Sinai researchers used a similar approach, administering store-bought peanut butter on a small group of 4-to-14 year olds who can tolerate about half a peanut without symptoms. An estimated 800-thousand children fall into this category.

"They gave these kids a small increasing amount of peanut products over the course of 18 months and they found that those kids were actually able to tolerate peanut products at the end of the trial," said Dr. Alok Patel, ABC News Contributor and also with Stanford Health.

68% of the peanut group achieved sustained unresponsiveness compared to 8% in the avoidance group.

"The vast majority of these kids were actually able to consume 3 teaspoons of peanut butter, which is remarkable," said Randhawa.

This easy and accessible treatment strategy could potentially fulfill an unmet need for about half of children with high threshold peanut allergies. Before this, they'd either have to avoid peanuts all together or undergo more costly forms of treatment.

Some of the young participants did experience nausea, vomiting and stomach aches. The study was done in a medical setting. Randhawa warns parents not to try this at home.

"There's no way for a parent to know what level of peanut or any other allergen will trigger a reaction. That is something that has to be done under the guidance a highly-trained allergist, particularly in the food allergy space," he said.

Based on these encouraging results, investigators want to learn if the same treatment strategy would work for food allergens other than peanuts.