Herbal Remedy Could Halt Peanut Allergy
FRIDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) -- A new herbal formula based in ancient Chinese medicine may be able to control allergic reactions to peanuts and other foods, researchers from New York City's Mount Sinai School of Medicine report.
Food allergies are potentially life-threatening for children and adults. Food allergies among children have increased 18 percent since 1997, and in 2007, some 3 million U.S. children had food allergies, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Currently, there is no treatment for the allergies, so avoidance is the only protection.
"We can reverse the peanut allergic reaction," said lead researcher Dr. Xiu-Min Li, director of the Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Allergy and Asthma at Mount Sinai.
In addition, protection from allergic reactions to peanuts persisted for almost nine months after treatment was stopped, Li said. "The herbal formula can stop peanut allergy and produce a prolonged protection," she said. "This formula may be effective for human peanut allergy."
The report was published in the February online edition of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
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