a treatment for peanut allergies using peanuts themselves is within reach after a "dramatically" successful trial. nine out of ten allergic children were gradually able to eat five peanuts a day in a study that freed them of the fear of accidentally eating nuts. nhs clinics could start using the method within a year, though experts told parents not to try the therapy at home, saying that it must be done in specialist centres. about one percent of children have peanut allergies, which were unknown 20 years ago. several children die each year from anaphylactic shock after eating peanuts and thousands more live in fear of setting off an immune reaction. researchers in cambridge looked at 99 children aged 7 to 16, half of whom were given a daily dose of peanut protein equivalent to a seventieth of a peanut. this doubled every two weeks until it reached 800mg, equivalent to five nuts. although some children felt sick, 84 percent tolerated this dose. half could cope with ten peanuts and when the control group was later given the therapy, 91 percent were able to eat five peanuts, researchers say in the lancet.