Researchers say they believe a pill to fight food allergies may be close, but study participants didn't want to take the awful smelling treatment.
The American Chemical Society examined nut allergies and how it affects mice. Scientists tested a compound called butyrate and looked at how it helps grow good gut bacteria.
The issue was that the pill was hard to swallow for study participants, who said it smelled like dog droppings and rancid butter and had an awful taste.
The pill is also said to digest too soon, so researchers are examining a new delivery system for the bacterial compound to help hide the smell and taste.
Shijie Cao, Ph.D. at the University of Chicagosaid, "butyrate has a very bad smell, like dog poop and rancid butter, and it also tastes bad, so people wouldn’t want to swallow it."
When the pill was administered to mice it helped stop anaphylactic shock when they were exposed to peanuts.
Researchers hope the pill's compound will help combat many types of food allergies.
According to the FDA, millions of Americans deal with food allergies to things like milk, eggs, fish, shellfish and wheat.
