Children with peanut allergies show dramatic improvement - trial

Children given everyday foods to treat milk and peanut allergies are showing dramatic signs of improvement, according to early trial results.

Five NHS hospitals have joined a £2.5m trial, thanks to funding from the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, from Fulham, west London, died in 2016 after suffering a severe allergic reaction to sesame baked into a Pret baguette.

Her parents set up the foundation hoping to cure allergies with research.

Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse have also campaigned for a change in food laws.

The new clinical oral immunotherapy (OIT) trial is using everyday foods to build up an allergy patient's tolerance over time.

Foods are given under medical supervision and the trial is also training NHS staff to offer OIT treatment.

Sibel Sonmez-Ajtai, paediatric allergy consultant and principal investigator at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This study is enabling us to do something we would never have dreamed of doing before - giving patients the foods we know they are allergic to.

"This treatment is not a cure for a food allergy, but what it achieves is life-transforming.

"To have a patient who has had anaphylaxis to 4mls of milk to then tolerate 90mls within six to eight months is nothing less than a miracle."

Thomas Farmer, 11, was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy when he was one. He can now eat six peanuts a day after joining the trial in Southampton.

His mother Lauren said joining the trial has "taken away so much anxiety around food".

"For Thomas to be able to achieve all this with no medicine, just off-the-shelf foods, is amazing," she said.

Since joining the trial in Newcastle, Grace Fisher, five, who has a milk allergy, is now drinking 120ml milk a day.

Her mother Emma said: "Grace is over six months into this journey and is doing amazing.

"She is currently on 120ml of milk and loves her daily hot chocolates."

To date, 139 people aged two to 23 with allergies to peanuts or cow's milk have started treatment.

The trial is being run at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

It will shortly start in Scotland, with plans for Bristol and Leeds to also join.

If successful, the three-year trial could provide more evidence for everyday foods treatment to be made available on the NHS.

At the moment, one treatment paid for by the NHS is Palforzia - peanut powder capsules which build tolerance to peanuts.

Mrs Ednan-Laperouse said: "If Natasha were alive today, this is exactly the type of research she would have loved to be part of.

"This is a major first step in our mission to make food allergies history. We look forward to seeing the final results."

Professor Arshad, head of the asthma, allergy and clinical immunology service at University Hospital of Southampton, said: "The Natasha trial aims to do better for people living with food allergies.

"Our ultimate aim is a life without the risk of allergic reactions - reactions which for some can be severe and life-threatening."

The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation is funding the trial through donations made to the charity from firms including Pret, Lidl, Leon, Uber Eats, Greggs, Tesco, Just Eat, Co-op, Morrisons, KFC, Sainsbury's, Costa, Burger King, Domino's, Kellogg's, M&S, Muller and Waitrose.

The full results are expected in 2027.

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