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Peanut Allergy May Fade with Time

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 14, 2006

Food Allergies • 3 Million U.S. Kids Have Food or Digestive Allergies • Allergy-Free Grocery May Make Mothers' Lives Easier • Peanut Allergy May Fade with Time • Food Labels To Include Allergy Information In 2006 • Watch That Peanut Butter! • FDA Study Finds Allergens Often Not Listed On Food Packages

Can your child outgrow his or her peanut allergy? For years, the answer was, "Probably no, but occasionally yes."

Peanut allergy can be life-threatening and tended to last a lifetime, according to classic allergy folklore. Well, it may not be so.

Doctors studied 200 kids with peanut allergies and published the results in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. On average, the kids developed peanut allergy about the age of 5. They were skin- and blood-tested when this occurred and then retested and reevaluated about a year and a half later.

Twenty percent of the kids lost their peanut allergy during this time period. Those who did tended to have milder allergy to start with and negative skin tests.

Conclusions: If you child has peanut allergy, help him or her avoid them and carry emergency medications. But also, have your child evaluated by an allergist every couple of years. If their skin tests negative and they don't have a severe allergy, they may lose it with time.

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