Health Matters: New Hope For People with Peanut Allergies
By: Jocelyn Tovar, KARK 4 NEWS
Updated: January 23, 2013
Allergies to peanuts can be an extremely serious problem.
Some schools have even banned peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because of them, but there's new hope for nearly 70-percent of people suffering from this allergy.
Ants on a log is a favorite afternoon snack, but the recipe Susan Schacher makes has one small change. She uses soy butter instead of the peanut variety.
That's because her four-year-old daughter Caitlyn has a severe allergy to nuts.
"I always have to have an EpiPen and Benedryl with me," Susan says. "It is really scary."
"Like living in a world of landmines of foods," explains Dr. Staci Jones, an allergist and immunologist for Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Dr. Jones says there's new hope for people with peanut allergies.
"Sublingual immunal therapy," she says it's called. "Or SLIT is the acronym."
A treatment still in the experimental phase has patients place a small amount of peanut extract under their tongue which eventually tricks their immune system to no longer be allergic to peanuts.
After one year of therapy, some can tolerate up to two peanuts, which may seem small, but is actually a milestone when you consider those same patients couldn't withstand less than 100th of a single peanut before.
"They have some level of protection out in the world," says Dr. Jones.
So, homes like the Schacher's don't have to be completely free of nuts.
"We all miss it sometimes," says Susan.
The therapy is a partnership between UAMS and Arkansas Children's Hospital and Dr. Jones says it wouldn't be possible without both working together.
Some schools have even banned peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because of them, but there's new hope for nearly 70-percent of people suffering from this allergy.
Ants on a log is a favorite afternoon snack, but the recipe Susan Schacher makes has one small change. She uses soy butter instead of the peanut variety.
That's because her four-year-old daughter Caitlyn has a severe allergy to nuts.
"I always have to have an EpiPen and Benedryl with me," Susan says. "It is really scary."
"Like living in a world of landmines of foods," explains Dr. Staci Jones, an allergist and immunologist for Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Dr. Jones says there's new hope for people with peanut allergies.
"Sublingual immunal therapy," she says it's called. "Or SLIT is the acronym."
A treatment still in the experimental phase has patients place a small amount of peanut extract under their tongue which eventually tricks their immune system to no longer be allergic to peanuts.
After one year of therapy, some can tolerate up to two peanuts, which may seem small, but is actually a milestone when you consider those same patients couldn't withstand less than 100th of a single peanut before.
"They have some level of protection out in the world," says Dr. Jones.
So, homes like the Schacher's don't have to be completely free of nuts.
"We all miss it sometimes," says Susan.
The therapy is a partnership between UAMS and Arkansas Children's Hospital and Dr. Jones says it wouldn't be possible without both working together.
