Packing your child's lunch bag just got a lot easier, because researchers think they've found a cure for peanut allergies.
Earlier this year scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (try saying that 3 times fast) made headlines after they proved that peanut allergies can be prevented early in life.
Like how letting your kids play in the dust and dirt builds up immunity, doctors discovered introducing peanuts early in life - in small doses - prevented children from developing deadly allergies.
In their 600 child study, kids who were introduced to peanuts early were 81% less likely to develop an allergy.
Now the odds are getting even better, because a team of doctors in Australia have developed what could be a permanent cure for peanut allergies.
So how does it work?
Like the prevention method, the new "cure" for allergies involves exposing children to peanuts.
Doctors at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne treated children who already had allergies with probiotics and small doses of peanut protein.
After the experiment ended, 80% of the kids they treated could safely eat peanuts, and 4 years later that number only dropped by 10%.
According to the study's lead researcher Mimi Tang, "These findings suggest our treatment is effective at inducing long-term tolerance, up to four years after completing treatment, and is safe."
The next step to develop a permanent cure is a larger study, but parents say this treatment has already changed their lives, since they don't have to worry about deadly allergic reactions anymore.
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[H/T: CGTN]