A man with a life-threatening peanut allergy is able to eat several per day thanks to a “ground-breaking” study.
Richard Lassiter, 44, says he has been admitted to hospital twice due to his severe nut allergy, but now eats four peanuts every morning as part of a trial which has seen him gradually increase his exposure to them.
One of his reactions came during a holiday in Chile with his wife in 2018, when he had a reaction so bad he had to stay in a high dependency unit overnight and have adrenaline and oxygen.
He is one of 21 people between the ages of 18 and 40 who took part in the research conducted by King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The study was the first entirely on adults with severe allergies to test whether daily doses of peanuts taken under strict supervision can be safely tolerated.
Other “desensitisation” studies are focused on children, the experts say, meaning adults don’t get the opportunity to counter their allergies.
The study, called The Grown Up Peanut Immunotherapy trial, saw participants with allergies slowly increase their daily dosage from 0.8mg peanut flour mixed in with food.
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Once they could tolerate 50-100mg of peanut protein, they were switched to eating whole peanuts, peanut butter or other peanut products.
By the end of the study, which was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, two thirds were able to eat the equivalent of five peanuts without reacting.
Speaking to Sky’s Wilfred Frost, Mr Lassiter said: “There was definitely a sense of nerves at first. You know, you have to get your mind around the idea of eating something you’ve tried to avoid your whole life.
“But I think at the point that I found out about the trial, it was something I was really keen to do. I obviously had a couple of [dangerous] incidents reasonably fresh in my mind.”
He said the trial had changed his life, adding that he took the nuts like “medicine”.
“The idea that I take four peanuts a day now after my breakfast is well-worn routine,” he said.
“I know it’s something I’ll do for the rest of the rest of my life.
“I’m certainly much more confident and calm when I go out to dinner with my wife, or when we go travelling. I know that that accidental exposure to peanuts isn’t going to cause a serious reaction like it has done in the past.”
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He added that he knew it still wasn’t safe to order a meal with a strong presence of nuts.
Chief investigator Stephen Till, professor of allergy at King’s College London and consultant allergist at Guy’s and St Thomas’, told Sky News the trial provided hope for those with nut allergies, but was definitely “not something to do at home”.
He said the next step would be to conduct larger trials and identify “the group of adult patients who would most likely benefit from oral immunotherapy, and see whether it can lead to long-term tolerance in this age group”.
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Asked if such trials could potentially benefit people with other types of allergies, Prof Till said: “Potentially, yes. The principle should be applicable to other food options, but what I would say is that different foods can behave differently in terms of the amounts that are required to cause reactions and how severe the reactions are. So to do it in other foods, you really do need to do trials for those specific foods individually.”
Public health minister Ashley Dalton said: “This ground-breaking research offers hope to thousands living with peanut allergies. For too long, people have navigated daily life in fear of accidental exposure that could be life-threatening.
“I’m proud the UK is leading this vital work through NIHR funding. These results show how we’re transforming lives through science, potentially changing care standards for adults with peanut allergies worldwide.”
