Can Controlled Consumption of Non-Allergic Nuts Benefit Children with Nut Allergy? A Randomised Controlled Study.

Primary organisation:	Flinders University
Funded by:	Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation
Chief investigators:	Dr Billy Tao

Project Summary

Children with nut allergy are usually advised to avoid all nuts. In a pilot study in 2009 we showed that these children can in fact safely eat the non-allergic nuts, after the latter are confirmed to be safe through a "multi-nut challenge test" performed under doctor's supervision. Benefits after 1 year of non-allergic nut consumption include improved psychological well-being, reduced skin prick reactions to both allergic and non-allergic nuts, and approximately 25% remission rate for the original allergic nuts. The proposed project is built on the experience of the pilot study and has a randomised controlled design.