Babies exposed to peanuts early are less likely to develop an allergy later

SALT LAKE CITY — Parents who start giving their children peanut products early, from infancy to age 5, help significantly reduce the risk of their child becoming allergic to peanuts later in life .

That’s according to a study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health and led by King’s College London, which reverses years of thinking about how to introduce – or avoid – potential allergens. The results are published in the journal NEJM Evidence.

The results held even when the children no longer ate peanut products for a long period of time. The study states that regular, early consumption “provides lasting peanut tolerance through adolescence, regardless of subsequent peanut consumption, demonstrating that long-term prevention and tolerance can be achieved by food allergy.

“Today’s results should increase the confidence of parents and caregivers that feeding their young children peanut products from infancy, according to established guidelines, can provide long-lasting protection against “peanut allergy,” institute director Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo said in a written statement. “If widely implemented, this simple and safe strategy could prevent tens of thousands of cases of peanut allergy among the 3.6 million children born each year in the United States.”

The findings are part of a trio of studies on the subject.

The first, called the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy clinical trial, and the later study both addressed the problem of peanut allergy, which can be life-threatening. In the study, half of the participants ate peanut butter regularly until age 5, while the other half avoided peanuts during this time. Early exposure to peanuts led to an 81% reduction in the risk of peanut allergy by age 5. The second study included children from the first, who were told to avoid peanuts between ages 5 and 6. The group had no peanut allergies at age 6.

The third study recruited 508 of the 640 children from the original study. They were then on average 13 years old. Among them, 255 belonged to the peanut-eating group, while the other 253 had avoided peanuts early on. The children were then gradually introduced to more and more peanuts “in a carefully controlled setting” to see if it was safe for them to eat what amounted to 20 or more peanuts. They were also asked about their recent peanut consumption habits.

‘The earliest would be best’

In the third study, 14.5% of people in the group that avoided peanuts early on and 4.4% of those in the group that ate peanuts had a peanut allergy at age 12 or older. This found that the risk of developing an allergy in adolescence was reduced by 71% if peanut consumption started early and was regular until the age of 5.

According to the study, detailed guidance on the early and safe introduction of infants to peanuts is available in the “Addendum to the Guidelines for the Prevention of Peanut Allergy in the United States,” a document designed specifically for parents and caregivers.

“It can generally be said that ‘the sooner the better’ for parents, especially in babies with eczema,” Gideon Lack, professor of pediatric allergy at King’s College London and author of the study, told CNN. ‘study. He said babies with eczema are at much higher risk of developing food allergies. They also tend to develop allergies well before their first birthday.

“However, the child must be developmentally and neurologically ready to eat solid foods and be able to coordinate chewing and swallowing without the risk of choking. Most babies will be able to begin weaning between four and six months, but every baby is an individual and should be assessed individually,” he said. “Also, foods should be given in soft puree form to facilitate swallowing and reduce the risk of choking. We do not recommend introducing solids before the age of three months.”