Here we go again - the peanut allergy cure
Scientists develop a cure for peanut allergies
We've all seen the headline. We've discussed this topic here on WEGO Health before. The headlines are truly sensational. They get people talking. Some say that we should start feeding our children peanuts to "cure" them. Family members send us parents of peanut allergic children links to these articles in e-mails entitled "Have you seen this?" to which I'd like to reply "No, I live under a rock, thank you very much". Well meaning friends and neighbors start saying "So, I hear there's a cure for your child's food allergies".
Every few weeks these headlines pop up in the news or on the internet. Frankly, I'm kind of tired of it. If it were true, I'd be dancing in the street and there'd be some blog post with pictures of it and me feeding my child peanuts or wheat or eggs etc. But this is not that blog post. This is the blog post explaining why these articles aren't giving you the whole story. And although I won't be quoting them directly, the explanation will be coming from two of my local allergists.
The last time I took my son to see his allergist I said "Dr S., I keep reading all these articles about these peanut cures or peanut studies...." and he cut me off and said "Look, if there was a cure, I'd be giving it to your son RIGHT NOW. Most of what you are reading is still in testing phase and by testing phase I mean, it's not even working at this time. What you are reading are what people are hoping for, not what is actually happening". He explained that yes, some kids are tolerating the peanut protein in small doses but at this point it's still in small doses and once you increase those doses, they go right back to having severe or anaphylactic reactions. And will this tolerance go on indefinitely? We don't know that at this point. Hence the reason it is still in trial phase. We are so glad these trials are going on!! We hope that one day they will lead to a cure, but we have not reached a point where anyone has been cured to date.
A close friend of mine who's oldest son is allergic to peanuts just called her allergist to ask the same question. She was told that many of these same children that tolerated the 20 peanuts a day lost that tolerance within a few weeks and had to back to not eating peanuts again. You only hear about the ones that can still eat the 20 peanuts. We don't hear about the ones that were sent home to continue eating their 20 peanuts a day and ended up having severe or anaphylactic reactions to them. She told my friend that at this time she was doubtful that this was going to be a "cure all " for every allergic person.
These articles are so misleading. Whatever happened to actually publishing the news and the whole truth in news? Amen to these studies. Without them, we may never find a cure. I say keep going. God Bless the people and parents that participate in these studies. And God Bless the doctors that do them. But to the media I'd like to say, please stop the hype. It's not necessary.
What are your opinions on the studies? Would you do them or would you let your child participate in them? What responsibility do you think the media has to tell the whole story about these studies?
We've all seen the headline. We've discussed this topic here on WEGO Health before. The headlines are truly sensational. They get people talking. Some say that we should start feeding our children peanuts to "cure" them. Family members send us parents of peanut allergic children links to these articles in e-mails entitled "Have you seen this?" to which I'd like to reply "No, I live under a rock, thank you very much". Well meaning friends and neighbors start saying "So, I hear there's a cure for your child's food allergies".
Every few weeks these headlines pop up in the news or on the internet. Frankly, I'm kind of tired of it. If it were true, I'd be dancing in the street and there'd be some blog post with pictures of it and me feeding my child peanuts or wheat or eggs etc. But this is not that blog post. This is the blog post explaining why these articles aren't giving you the whole story. And although I won't be quoting them directly, the explanation will be coming from two of my local allergists.
The last time I took my son to see his allergist I said "Dr S., I keep reading all these articles about these peanut cures or peanut studies...." and he cut me off and said "Look, if there was a cure, I'd be giving it to your son RIGHT NOW. Most of what you are reading is still in testing phase and by testing phase I mean, it's not even working at this time. What you are reading are what people are hoping for, not what is actually happening". He explained that yes, some kids are tolerating the peanut protein in small doses but at this point it's still in small doses and once you increase those doses, they go right back to having severe or anaphylactic reactions. And will this tolerance go on indefinitely? We don't know that at this point. Hence the reason it is still in trial phase. We are so glad these trials are going on!! We hope that one day they will lead to a cure, but we have not reached a point where anyone has been cured to date.
A close friend of mine who's oldest son is allergic to peanuts just called her allergist to ask the same question. She was told that many of these same children that tolerated the 20 peanuts a day lost that tolerance within a few weeks and had to back to not eating peanuts again. You only hear about the ones that can still eat the 20 peanuts. We don't hear about the ones that were sent home to continue eating their 20 peanuts a day and ended up having severe or anaphylactic reactions to them. She told my friend that at this time she was doubtful that this was going to be a "cure all " for every allergic person.
These articles are so misleading. Whatever happened to actually publishing the news and the whole truth in news? Amen to these studies. Without them, we may never find a cure. I say keep going. God Bless the people and parents that participate in these studies. And God Bless the doctors that do them. But to the media I'd like to say, please stop the hype. It's not necessary.
What are your opinions on the studies? Would you do them or would you let your child participate in them? What responsibility do you think the media has to tell the whole story about these studies?
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