Trial may show way to mitigate allergies

A £2.5 million clinical trial has allowed children with cow’s milk and peanut allergies to eat foods that could previously have triggered potentially life-threatening allergic reactions. Nearly 140 children and young people aged between two and 23 have taken part in the NHS trial, which involves giving them daily doses of specific foods under careful medical supervision to help train their bodies to tolerate the allergen. “This treatment is not a cure for a food allergy, but what it achieves is life-transforming,” says Sibel Sonmez-Ajtai, a paediatric allergy consultant at Sheffield Children’s NHS foundation trust. The trial is funded by the The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, which was set up after 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died following a severe allergic reaction to sesame baked into a Pret baguette. Final results are due in 2027 and if successful could mean the treatment is made more widely available on the NHS.