Earlier introduction to peanuts may prevent allergy later in life
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Data presented during the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology annual meeting indicated that introducing peanuts at an earlier age leads to a decrease in children with peanut allergy later in life.
Researchers reported a 16% decrease in peanut allergy prevalence among infants aged 12 months following the 2016 publication of new infant feeding guidelines in Australia that recommended introducing peanuts before age 12 months for all infants.
Victoria Soriano, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, and colleagues previously showed that a “dramatic increase” in peanut introduction by age 12 months followed the introduction of the guidelines.
For the new study, they compared the prevalence of peanut allergies among 1,933 infants aged 12 months from 2018 to 2019 with 5,276 infants aged 12 months from 2007 to 2011. From 2018 to 2019, the adjusted peanut allergy prevalence was 2.6% (95% CI, 1.9%-4%) compared with 3.1% (95% CI, 2.6%-3.6%) from 2007 to 2011.
“Melbourne parents and guardians are safely introducing peanut to their infants in their first year of life, which may have halted the rise in peanut allergy,” Soriano told Healio.
The authors said they found little difference in the results when they adjusted for eczema.
“Even though most infants were eating peanut in their first year of life, peanut allergy prevalence was still relatively high, warranting further research into other food allergy risk factors,” Soriano said.