Potential Peanut Allergy Cure Lets 80% of Children Eat Nuts

Peanut allergies have long been treated as a life sentence.

For millions of children around the world, a single bite of the wrong cookie can lead to hives, vomiting — or in the worst cases — anaphylactic shock.

Parents carry EpiPens like lifelines.

Birthday parties are navigated like war zones. And peanut butter?

That might as well be poison.

But in a quiet Melbourne lab, a group of children may have just flipped that story on its head.

A groundbreaking clinical trial led by scientists at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found that combining a common probiotic with tiny, carefully dosed amounts of peanut protein helped 80% of allergic children tolerate peanuts — in just 18 months.

Let that sink in.

Eighty percent of the kids in the treatment group could eat peanuts without a reaction by the end of the trial.

Compare that with just 4 percent in the placebo group.

“Many of the children and families believe it has changed their lives,” said Dr. Mimi Tang, lead researcher. “They’re very happy. They feel relieved.”

And for good reason.

This may be the first real shot at a lasting cure — not just a treatment — for one of the world’s most feared childhood allergies.

How Peanut + Probiotic Became a Game-Changer

The trial was simple in design, yet radical in implication.

60 children with diagnosed peanut allergies were selected.

Half received a placebo, while the other half — 28 children — were given a daily capsule containing two things:

A tiny dose of peanut protein, gradually increased every two weeks
A powerful probiotic strain called Lactobacillus rhamnosus, known for its immune-boosting properties

The final dose reached 2 grams of peanut protein per day — roughly equivalent to a small spoonful of peanut butter.

But here’s the twist: the probiotic dose matched what you’d get from eating 20 kilograms of yogurt.

Clearly, this wasn’t something families could try at home.

But under clinical supervision, the results were nothing short of astonishing.

By the end of the 18-month trial:

23 out of 28 children in the treatment group could eat peanuts freely
Only 1 child in the placebo group showed similar tolerance

“It appears that we have been able to modify the allergic response,” said Tang, “so the immune system produces protective responses rather than harmful ones.”

A Global Epidemic with No Cure

Peanut allergies have exploded in recent decades, particularly in Western countries.

In Australia, nearly 3% of children are affected — a number that’s still rising.

In the U.S., the CDC estimates that food allergies in children have increased by 50% in just over a decade.

Peanuts are the most common — and most dangerous — culprit.

Unlike some food allergies that fade with age, peanut allergies are often lifelong, and are the leading cause of food allergy-related deaths, mainly due to anaphylaxis.

Until now, the only advice doctors could give was avoid peanuts entirely and carry an epinephrine auto-injector everywhere you go.

No one expected to reverse the allergy — just survive it.

That’s what makes this study so revolutionary.

It didn’t just suppress symptoms.

It appeared to retrain the immune system — turning a food that once triggered panic into something kids could eat safely.

Why Everything We Believed About Allergy Avoidance Might Be Wrong

For decades, the prevailing wisdom was this: avoid allergens.

Delay exposure. Keep kids away from peanuts, shellfish, eggs, dairy — anything that might spark an immune reaction.

It sounded logical.

But what if that strategy made things worse?

A growing body of research now suggests that early exposure to allergens — particularly when paired with immune-modulating agents like probiotics — may actually prevent allergies from developing in the first place.

In 2015, the landmark LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) study stunned the medical community when it showed that feeding peanut products to high-risk infants reduced allergy risk by up to 80%.

This new Melbourne study builds on that foundation, but goes further: what if you could not only prevent the allergy — but undo it entirely?

That’s the hypothesis driving Tang’s work.

By using a probiotic like Lactobacillus rhamnosus, which supports gut health and immune balance, and combining it with gradual exposure to peanut protein, the team believed they could nudge the immune system away from its overactive, allergy-prone response.

And, based on these results, they were right.

How Probiotics Play a Role

So, what makes this probiotic so powerful?

Lactobacillus rhamnosus is a strain of bacteria commonly found in yogurt and fermented foods.

But its power lies in the gut-immune connection — a growing area of research revealing that over 70% of the body’s immune cells live in the gut.

The thinking goes like this:

Allergies arise from misguided immune responses — the body sees harmless proteins (like peanuts) as threats.
Probiotics modulate immune function, teaching the body how to distinguish friend from foe.
When combined with micro-doses of allergens, the probiotic may help the body reprogram its reaction.

In other words, this isn’t about suppressing allergies. It’s about teaching the immune system a new story — one where peanuts aren’t the enemy.

What This Means for Families

For the families involved, this wasn’t just science — it was liberation.

Parents who once feared every snack-time now watched their children eat peanuts without incident. No hives. No swelling. No ER visits.

“These findings provide the first vital step toward developing a cure for peanut allergy — and possibly other food allergies,” said Tang.

But she’s also quick to caution: this isn’t ready for home use.

The treatment involved deliberate exposure to allergens under controlled medical conditions.

Some children did experience allergic reactions during the trial, which required intervention.

“This treatment must only be given under close medical supervision,” she emphasized.

Still, the success rate is promising: seven out of every nine children benefited from the therapy.

That’s not just clinically meaningful — it’s potentially life-changing.

Is the Tolerance Permanent?

Of course, the big question is: Does the effect last?

To find out, Tang’s team is now conducting a follow-up study.

They’re removing peanuts from the children’s diets for eight weeks, then reintroducing them to see if the tolerance holds.

If it does, it could mean the allergy has been permanently reprogrammed — not just temporarily suppressed.

If not, it still represents a major breakthrough, suggesting that regular exposure may be key to maintaining tolerance.

Either way, this trial paves the way for safer, cheaper, and more scalable allergy treatments — especially when compared to other experimental methods, like peanut patches or immune-suppressing drugs.

Could This Work for Other Allergies Too?

Here’s where things get even more exciting.

While the focus here was peanuts, the underlying strategy — allergen + probiotic — could theoretically apply to other food allergies, including: