The first time I had a handful of peanuts, I remember the feeling of something crawling on the inside of my skin. All it took was five peanuts to light up my arm with red dots. Then the itch happened, and it felt like my skin was going to burn. The next thing, and the last thing, I remember was being rushed to the hospital at 11 pm on a school night.
It is reported that in Canada, every 2 in 100 children have a reported peanut allergy, and it turns out that I’m one of them. I was really young when that happened (I can’t remember the exact age), but ever since then, I haven’t touched a peanut. I’m extremely cautious about food products that I buy at the grocery store or what I order in restaurants. There’s a new peanut allergy patch that everyone is raving about and here’s why I think it would work because I’m nuts about knowing what peanuts taste like.
The Peanut Allergy Patch
Whenever you fill out a health form and it requires you to list out your possible allergies, peanuts are always one of the first options. It’s one of the most common allergies nationwide and globally. In the US, there are approximately 150-200 deaths a year due to severe peanut allergies. I’m really thankful to not fall under that category, but doesn’t it suck to always have to be so cautious with what you eat?
Thanks to our handy dandy modern age technology, a recent study tested DBV Technologies’ creation, a peanut allergy patch, Viaskin Peanut, which is a tiny patch that releases peanut proteins into the user’s body to build tolerance against peanuts. Through this study, results show that this patch can potentially help treat peanut allergies.
It Could Work
According to the study, the three groups of participants were examined after a year of using the patch. Those who used the patch seemed to be able to tolerate more peanuts than those who were not given a patch to use within the year. Children from the age of 4-11 seemed to show the best results. As well, over half of the participants were able to eat more than five grams of foods with peanuts during this study, and more than ten grams of foods after participating in this study.
There has been constant progress since the start of using the peanut allergy patch. Even though the patch hasn’t received official FDA approval yet, there is more and more lab research on how to maximize the use of this patch. It has the potential to be the future of eliminating life-threatening peanut allergies, specifically strengthening our immune system to be okay with peanut intake on an everyday basis.
Final Thoughts
This peanut patch isn’t something that will immediately cure all peanut allergies. Everything takes time for our bodies to adapt. The purpose of this patch is to minimize life-threatening peanut allergy reactions, so much that they can rarely happen and cause harm. Maybe I won’t be able to eat a whole feast of PB&J sandwiches for a while, but one day, I’ll bite the peanut crunch sprinkles on an ice cream cone and not feel like my skin will burst into flames.