Study shows Large quantities of Probiotics may lead to Cure for Peanut Allergy

Large quantities of probiotics may also be the key to curing all food allergies in the future.

A course of probiotics combined with an oral immunotherapy treatment using peanuts in kids who are allergic to the nut cured them for at least four years, according to a recently published study in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

The research determined that the addition of probiotics to oral therapy was much more successful than the immunotherapy alone.

"We were very excited by these findings," study author Mimi Tang told the journal. "To us, it really shows that the probiotic peanut combination can actually change the immune response to peanuts and provide benefits, long term, years after having stopped treatment."

For the study, 56 children with peanut allergies were divided into a placebo group and another that received the probiotic Tang and her team were researching, Lactobacillus rhamnosus (commonly found in yogurt). After 18 months of treatment and one month off, the probiotic group ate some peanuts and waited for an allergic episode to commence.

But, 82% of kids who received the probiotic had no reaction at all. Four years later, Tang had those same children stop eating peanuts for eight weeks before returning for a follow up. Out of 12 children from the original study, seven remained allergy-free.

"We had children who came into the study allergic to peanuts, having to avoid peanut in their diet, being very vigilant around that, carrying a lot of anxiety with that," Tang said. "And at the end of treatment and even four years later, many of these children who had benefitted from our probiotic peanut therapy could now live like a child who didn't have peanut allergy."

An allergic reaction to peanuts is the most common food-related cause of anaphylaxis — swelling of the throat, restricted airways and bottomed-out blood pressure — in the U.S. over 3 million people suffer from this life-threatening allergy.