Preliminary Peanut Introduction Averted Allergies in 60,000 Kids: Research
In the United States, approximately 8% of children experience a food allergy, including over 2% with a peanut allergy. However, in 2015, researchers proposed that introducing peanuts to babies and young children early can prevent peanut allergies, challenging the notion that early exposure would lead to a lifelong allergy. By 2017, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) acknowledged this, officially recommending an early-introduction strategy along with other national guidelines. Now, a decade later, a significant study backs up these conclusions.
Published last month in *Pediatrics*, the research found that food allergy rates among children under 3 dropped by more than 27% following the allergy guidelines introduced in 2015. After the recommendations were further broadened in 2017, that figure decreased by over 40%. According to the study, around 60,000 children have evaded food allergies in the last ten years due to the updated guidelines, including 40,000 who would have developed a peanut allergy.
“Early allergen introduction is effective,” Dr. David Hill, a pediatric allergist and the study’s primary author, shared with *NPR*. “For the first time in modern history, it seems we might be controlling the rise of food allergies in this nation.”
To reach their findings, Dr. Hill and his colleagues examined the electronic health records of 125,000 children across the U.S., gathered from nearly 50 pediatric practices nationwide. The team detected allergies using diagnostic codes and Epi-Pen prescriptions, analyzing the rates of food allergies in children both prior to and following the publication of the revised guidelines. The study monitored children only up to the age of 3, so it remains uncertain whether the reduction in allergies persisted into later childhood.
“It’s very persistent,” Dr. Hill remarked. “Only about 10% of children who develop a peanut allergy will outgrow that peanut allergy.”
While scientists don’t fully grasp the reasons behind food allergies, they have essentially discerned how they function within the body. In essence, the immune system mistakenly identifies peanut proteins as threats and, in response, emits chemicals that trigger allergic reactions like hives or anaphylaxis. This is precisely why Dr. Hill advocates for introducing allergenic foods in infancy to help the body adapt, especially since the immune system is still maturing. Ideally, parents should expose infants to peanuts and other allergens between four and six months of age.
“It doesn’t require a lot of the food, just small amounts of peanut butter, milk-based yogurt, soy-based yogurts, and tree nut butters,” Dr. Hill remarked in *CNN Health*. “These are excellent methods to provide immune system exposure to these allergenic foods [safely].”
Read the [full study](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/156/5/e2024070516/204636/Guidelines-for-Early-Food-Introduction-and?autologincheck=redirected) in *Pediatrics* for further insights.
### A new study indicates that the allergy guidelines established in 2015 have notably decreased food allergy rates in children under 3 years of age.
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