{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Giving peanut butter to babies – from infancy to age 5 – has been shown to be effective in reduce allergies in adolescence, according to a new study from King’s College London.
The LEAP-Trio study, published Tuesday in NEJM Evidence, showed that children who consumed peanuts early in life were 71% less likely to develop peanut allergies until age 13.
This was a follow-up to the LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) clinical trial. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) sponsored and co-funded both studies.
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In the initial trial, half of the participants were asked to eat peanuts regularly from infancy until age 5, while the other half were told to avoid eating during this period.
Researchers found that early introduction of peanuts reduced the risk of peanut allergy by 81% by age 5.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Giving peanut butter to babies has been shown to reduce allergies well into adolescence, according to a new study. (iStock)
This latest trial included 508 participants from the original study, with an average age of 13 years.
The children were given peanuts in a “carefully controlled environment” to assess possible allergic reactions.
Peanut allergies were “significantly more prevalent” among children who avoided peanuts during the first five years of life.
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“Early regular peanut consumption reduced the risk of peanut allergy in adolescence by 71% compared to early peanut avoidance,” the study authors wrote.
This effect persisted whether the children ate peanuts regularly or avoided them for many years.
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“The main conclusion of this study is that early consumption of peanut, from the beginning of the first year of life, confers long-term protection against peanut allergy until adolescence, even without consumption continues to eat peanuts beyond the age of five,” the study’s lead researcher, Gideon Lack, a professor at King’s College London, told Fox News Digital.
Children who ate peanuts early in life were 71 percent less likely to develop peanut allergies by age 13, the researchers found. (iStock)
“This is the first study to establish long-term oral tolerance as a protective strategy against peanut allergy.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}To prevent peanut allergy, young babies From the age of 4 months, peanuts should be given in the form of peanut puffs or peanut butter “regularly and frequently” – at least three times a week – during the first four to five years of life, have recommended the researchers.
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“I was not entirely surprised, but nevertheless impressed by the strong protective effect of early peanut consumption, which prevents peanut allergy until adolescence,” Lack noted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“This indicates that lifelong tolerance may have been achieved.”
“Early introduction of safe peanut foods to infants has been shown to help prevent peanut allergies, particularly but not exclusively in infants at risk for peanut allergies,” said a dietitian at Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Sherry Coleman Collins, food allergy dietitian at Marietta, Georgiadid not participate in the study but shared his thoughts on the subject.
“Early introduction of safe peanut foods to infants has been shown to help prevent peanut allergies, particularly but not exclusively in infants at risk for peanut allergies,” a- she told Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“In this study, they found that even though children who ate peanuts during early childhood stopped eating peanuts for a period of time, they were still protected against developing a peanut allergy,” Collins continued.
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This supports the idea that food tolerance developed in early childhood can extend into adolescence, according to Collins.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Infants who have moderate to severe eczema and/or egg allergy should discuss the early introduction of peanut foods to help prevent peanut allergies, as they are at greatest risk,” she advised.
“Infants who have moderate to severe eczema and/or egg allergy should discuss the early introduction of peanut foods to help prevent allergies.”
The study had some limitations, Lack acknowledged.
“One of the weaknesses of the study is that it was done on a high-risk population of babies with severe eczema or chicken egg allergy,” he told Fox News Digital .
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“However, the results of the original LEAP study have now been replicated in other normal, low-risk populations and are therefore applicable to the general population.”
These results could likely be effective for other types of food allergies, according to the researchers.
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