FRIDAY, Jan. 2, 2026 (HealthDay News) — You might not need high doses of peanut to help your child overcome their food allergy, a new study suggests.

Smaller doses can help kids build up their allergic resistance to peanut, with fewer side effects than larger amounts, researchers recently reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology – In Practice.

“We were excited to find that peanut oral immunotherapy maintenance doses can be much lower than previously thought and still contribute to positive outcomes,” lead researcher Dr. Julia Upton, head of immunology and allergy at The Hospital for Sick Children in Montreal, Canada, said in a news release.

In oral immunotherapy, children are fed a steadily increasing amount of peanut to build up their resistance, eventually reaching a “maintenance” dose that they eat regularly.

For the new study, researchers tested whether a low maintenance dose of 30 milligrams would work as well as a 300-milligram dose of peanut.

The research team randomly assigned 51 children to either take a low dose or a high dose of peanut, or to avoid peanuts altogether.

Both treatment groups experienced significant and similar increases in their allergic reaction threshold to peanuts, showing that even small amounts can make a big difference, researchers said.

On top of that, children taking the low dose had fewer side effects, results showed.

“This is a small enough dose that even children who do not like the taste can continue treatment,” said senior researcher Dr. Thomas Eiwegger, an adjunct scientist in the translational medicine program at The Hospital for Sick Children.

“This is the first time we’ve compared standard doses to such a low dose, but the minimum maintenance dose to provide benefit may be even lower than 30 mg,” he added in a news release.

This will provide families with much flexibility, researchers said. Some might choose to remain on very low doses, while others might increase doses over time, depending on their goals.

“The more options we have, the more we can support patients’ experience and provide meaningful, tailored care,” Upton said.

More information

The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has more on peanut oral immunotherapy.

SOURCE: The Hospital for Sick Children, news release, Dec. 29, 2025