TREATING childhood peanut allergy by gradually trying to increase tolerance may make the condition worse.
Oral immunotherapy, which raises doses of an allergen over time, tripled rates of potentially fatal anaphylaxis, from 7.1 per cent to 22.2 per cent.
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Allergic reactions such as vomiting, abdominal pain, mouth itching, wheezing and asthma, also all increased.
A study at McMaster University in Canada analysed a dozen year-long trials involving more than 1,000 patients with an average age of nine.
Dr Derek Chu said nuts should be shunned, adding: “There were more allergic and adverse reactions with oral immunotherapy compared with avoidance or placebo.”
“It shows that current peanut oral immunotherapy regimens can achieve the immunological goal of desensitisation, but that this outcome does not translate into achieving the clinical and patient-desired aim of less allergic reactions and anaphylaxis over time.
He added: “Our results do not denounce current research in oral immunotherapy, but the method needs to be more carefully considered.
“Improvements in safety made and measures of success need to be aligned with patients’ wishes.”
