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Early peanut introduction could help to curb allergies in kids, new research suggests.
Exposing children to peanuts when they are 4 to 11 months old — instead of waiting until they are 3, as previously recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics — appears to be making a dent in the number of peanut allergy diagnoses, the study published in Pediatrics suggests.
“New onset peanut allergy dropped by 43% in kids under 3,” Dr. David Hill, M.D., Ph.D., from the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told Fox News Digital.
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Hill, one of the study authors, noted that new-onset food allergies overall dropped by 36% in that age group.
Peanuts are one of the primary causes of serious allergic reactions in children. These reactions happen when the body’s immune system overreacts to peanuts by producing a substance called immunoglobulin E (IgE), which can lead to anaphylaxis — a severe, sometimes life-threatening allergic response, the researchers noted in a news release.
About 4% of children are affected by these types of food allergies, which can cause hives, difficulty breathing, swelling and vomiting. These symptoms can be immediate and life-threatening, experts told Fox News Digital.
Beyond peanuts, other common food allergens include milk, egg and wheat, according to the report.
Evolving advice
Before 2015, it was standard practice to caution parents about peanut exposure for children under 3 years of age. Then in 2015, a landmark study — the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP) trial — sparked a change in clinical practice.
The study found that for infants who had severe eczema or an egg allergy, exposing them to peanuts when they were between 4 and 11 months old could reduce peanut allergy risk by 81%.
Based on the LEAP trial, leading organizations in pediatric allergy and immunology revised their guidelines for clinical practice in 2015 and 2017, allowing early exposure to peanuts for high-risk children.
“It just seems like there’s this window of tolerance during early infancy.”
The guidelines were updated again in 2021, encouraging the introduction of peanut, egg and other major food allergens as early as 4 to 6 months for all children — including those without a history of prior reaction, according to health experts.
“It just seems like there’s this window of tolerance during early infancy, so if we introduced the foods during that window, you will prevent food allergy,” Dr. Susan Schuval, chief of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in New York, told Fox News Digital.
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“If you wait until after that window, the child will be more predisposed to having a food allergy,” added Schuval, who was not part of the study.
Positive outcomes
Hill and his team of researchers focused on the effects of the revised practice guidelines from 2015 and 2017, but did not include the 2021 revisions. They analyzed electronic health records from multiple clinics in several states to determine whether the policy changes were having an effect.
For at least two years after the 2015 guidance, the study found that there was a 27% decrease in peanut allergies and a 38% decrease in food allergies.
Egg allergies were also more prevalent than peanut allergies in this analysis.
After the 2017 guidance change, peanut allergies dipped by 43% and overall food allergies decreased by 36% (compared to the pre-2015 guidance) among children observed for at least a year, the researchers found.
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“Everyone has been wondering whether these landmark public health interventions have had an impact on reducing rates of IgE-mediated food allergies in the United States,” said first author Stanislaw Gabryszewski, M.D., Ph.D., an attending physician in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“We now have data that suggest the effect of this landmark public health intervention is occurring,” she added.
Hill told Fox News Digital he’s “hopeful that our findings will help to spread awareness that early allergen introduction is safe and effective.”
While early exposure may not completely eliminate allergies to peanuts and other foods, the drop in rates of food allergy diagnoses is promising, said the researchers. They also emphasized the importance of consistent early introduction in clinical practice settings.
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“Our findings have relevance [for] those of us who treat patients [and] those caring for infants — and more awareness, education and advocacy could further increase the positive results we observed in this study,” Hill said.
Not all parents may be comfortable with these revised guidelines, health experts told Fox News Digital.
“Not everyone has followed those guidelines, but this is further evidence that this early introduction is effective at preventing food allergies,” Schuval said.
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Parents are encouraged to discuss any concerns with their pediatrician before introducing potential food allergens.
Future studies are needed to investigate how timing, dosage and frequency of exposure could further protect against food allergies, Hill added.
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