To desensitize sesame-allergic pediatric patients, oral desensitization with crushed sesame seeds and tahini can be a safe and successful method, says an article published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Oral desensitization is a new food allergy therapy approach. In the United States, statistics on sesame oral desensitization effects are few. As a result, Ami Shah and colleagues undertook this study to evaluate the efficiency of crushed sesame seeds in oral desensitization. For this purpose, in a pediatric food allergy referral center, a retrospective chart study of young children receiving sesame oral desensitization was done.

The key findings of this study were:
1. Oral desensitization to sesame was performed on 86 individuals (median age 5 years) with an allergist-diagnosed sesame allergy.

2. Before patients attained a maintenance dosage, typically 1 teaspoon of tahini, oral desensitization entailed an initial low dose oral food challenge (OFC) to crushed sesame seeds or tahini (1000mg sesame protein). 51 (59.3%) were able to maintain. 26, or 30.2%, of the patients were still in the build-up stage.
3. Due to reactions (n=3), uncontrolled asthma (n=1), trouble with daily dose (n=1), or unknown (n=4), nine patients (10.5%) stopped desensitization.
4. During daily treatment, 25 patients (29.1%) had allergic responses, with just 1 reaction needing epinephrine.
5. The full dosage OFC to 1 tablespoon of tahini (3000mg sesame protein) was performed by ten patients who had attained maintenance dosing; all had negative OFCs (100%).
6. After stopping daily sesame dose for 4-6 weeks, all ten patients had a prolonged unresponsiveness OFC to 1 tablespoon of tahini. 10 out of 10 (100%) prolonged unresponsiveness OFCs returned negative results.
In conclusion, this investigation indicated that oral sesame desensitization for allergic young patients was both secure and efficient.
Reference:
Shah, A., Cox, A., Kattan, J., Tsuang, A., Sicherer, S., Groetch, M., Schaible, A., & Oriel, R. (2023). Sesame Oral Desensitization Outcomes in a Pediatric Cohort. In Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Vol. 151, Issue 2, p. AB121). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2022.12.383