New Discovery – Scientists May Be Able To Turn Off Food Allergies

Researchers at Northwestern University have found a way to adjust the immune system so that it does not go haywire when foods such as peanuts and eggs are introduced in mice! This is very good news especially since studies just have been released showing that food allergies have more than doubled over the past ten years. Food allergies have proven to be fatal, especially in young children and many changes in the public setting has also been changed to accommodate for all the people that suffer from these allergies. Just a little bit of peanut protein in the mouth or even on the skin of an allergic child can trigger a life threatening reaction called anaphylaxis.

Scientists from the National Institutes of Health have estimated that over 4 percent of children under 5 years of age suffer from food allergies. Each year there are approximately 15 thousand to 30 thousand episodes of anaphylaxis shock occurred due to these allergies. Right now there is no reliable treatment for food allergies other than to avoid it and other people that consume it. The good news is that researchers found that they could block the allergic reaction by taking protein from a peanut and package them with white blood cells. When they injected these into mice, their the immune systems protein spotted the white blood cell with the protein which re-calibrated the immune system and identified the proteins to be safe.

What scientists have been able to do in mice is trick the immune system and convince it that these foods are safe, which turns down the reaction or even turns it off. Peanuts and other food allergies occur when the immune system goes crazy. An allergic reaction to peanuts and other foods happens because their bodies interpret the proteins of these foods as dangerous pathogens that should be killed. It puts the bodies system in overdrive and causes a strong allergic reaction. When a person is sensitized to foods such as nuts, immune system cells called T helper cells go into full action. As explorers, these cells are constantly on patrol looking for proteins that are defined as dangerous. When they find it, they start a massive immune reaction so severe that it can be fatal.

Research on autoimmune disease is at the forefront of many studies today. Everyday there is a new discovery and as technology and more understanding of how the immune system works, advances and new discoveries are exploding.
This study was published in Journal of Immunology by Paul J. Bryce, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

New Discovery – Scientists May Be Able To Turn Off Food Allergies

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