Cashew oral immunotherapy desensitizes food allergy symptoms, study finds

Israel: In a new study published in the journal Allergy, it was found that cashew oral immunotherapy (OIT) desensitizes the majority of cashew-allergic patients and cross-desensitizes them to pistachio.

Oral immunotherapy is a therapeutic option for people who are allergic to milk, eggs, or peanuts, although research on the efficacy and safety of cashew OIT is lacking. As a result, Arnon Elizur and colleagues undertook this study to assess the efficacy of cashew OIT in reducing allergy symptoms.

A group of 50 cashew-allergic individuals aged 4 years or more who were recruited in cashew OIT (target dosage 4000 mg protein) from 4/2016 to 12/2019. Fifteen cashew-allergic individuals who continued to avoid cashews acted as controls. It was discovered that the patient had a pistachio and walnut allergy. Both groups' full desensitization rates and accompanying immunological alterations were studied. Patients who had become completely desensitized to cashew were directed to ingest a dosage of 1200 mg cashew protein for 6 months before being exposed to the maximum amount. Patients with co-allergies to pistachio or walnut were exposed to the nut in question.