We got it all wrong, but there's good news
Growing up I hardly knew a soul with a food allergy, but our oldest daughter is one of the nearly 6 million food allergic children today and unfortunately, she has a shocking number of friends and classmates in the same boat. In fact, today there are about 2 kids in every classroom with a food allergy. Nuts are banned at our children’s schools and hosting a simple playdate or birthday party is a logistical challenge that requires finding treats that are not only nut-free, dairy-free, sesame-free, you-name-the-allergen-free, but also weren’t processed in the same facility as any of the offending foods in order to keep kids safe.
We don’t know all the reasons food allergies are on the rise, but many experts believe that incorrect and outdated feeding guidelines advising that infants avoid peanuts and other potentially allergenic foods, may be partially to blame.
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued those avoidance guidelines in the year 2000, and even though they were rescinded 8 years later due to lack of evidence, avoidance became the norm.
In the years that followed, we’ve seen a staggering increase: food allergies among children have doubled and nut allergies have tripled!
Like many other parents, we delayed introducing nuts and other allergens with our first child, only to find out that she had developed an allergy to most nuts by age 3. Our daughter is now 15 years old and she’s an incredible girl, but the fear of food is always there and she will likely have to carry an epi-pen for life.
But I want to share some GOOD news that has the power to help other children avoid that burden. Groundbreaking research and updated pediatric feeding guidelines have the potential to prevent food allergies and potentially end the food allergy epidemic.
The discovery that changed everything
Everything changed in 2015, when the seminal Learning Early About Peanut Allergy Study (LEAP), led by Dr. Gideon Lack, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The LEAP Study was a five year, NIH-funded clinical trial that found early and regular peanut consumption, starting in the first year of life until age 5, could prevent up to 86 percent of peanut allergies. Said differently, avoiding peanuts in infancy and toddlerhood, increased the rate of peanut allergy five-fold. Subsequent follow-up studies like the 2024 LEAP-Trio Study found that the protection against peanut allergy gained from early introduction, lasts through the teen years. Pretty powerful stuff!
The LEAP Study was so groundbreaking and definitive that it reversed pediatric feeding guidelines globally. In the United States all major medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), National Institutes of Health (NIH / NIAID), USDA and the major allergy organizations (AAAAI / ACAAI) now recommend that babies start eating commonly allergenic foods, especially peanut, in baby-friendly forms, when babies start solids. Canada, Australia, the UK and Japan have followed suit.
The Why behind Mission MightyMe
The LEAP Study was published shortly after our third child was born and it was big news. I remember reading a quote from the then-NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci who said, “We’re talking about saving thousands and thousands of kids from peanut allergies.” This statement really rocked my world and gave me hope that we might be able to prevent our third child from developing a food allergy like his older sister; and that if early introduction was adopted on a large scale, it could change the lives of an entire generation!
We were determined to try it, but found early introduction difficult because nuts and nut butters are a choking hazard for babies and the entire baby food industry was nut-free. So my husband JJ and I decided to start a food company to make early allergen introduction easy for busy families like ours. We partnered with the very pediatric allergist who led the LEAP Study, Dr. Gideon Lack, to launch Mission MightyMe - the first and only pediatrician-developed nut butter puffs, that are all more than 50% nuts, made with peanuts and tree nuts, and developed in accordance with the research to make it safe, simple (and delicious) to regularly include a variety nuts in children’s diets, as pediatric guidelines now recommend.* Our mission is to help end the food allergy epidemic and to make children’s lives happier and healthier in the process.
What parents need to know
Having early introduction products on the baby aisle in the U.S. is an important step, but there are still very few options and adoption has been slow. Many parents and healthcare providers are still following the outdated advice to avoid potentially allergenic foods in infancy and missing the crucial window to prevent food allergies.
There are a number of barriers, including parents' fear of introducing allergenic foods, difficulty incorporating those foods into a baby’s diet and limited face time with pediatricians. A 2020 survey showed that only 30% of healthcare providers were fully implementing the guidelines with their patients, something Food Allergy Dietitian Sherry Coleman Collins says must change.
If there was a vaccine for food allergies, I would’ve given it to my children in a heartbeat to prevent them from carrying the burden of a life-long and potentially life-threatening condition. What if that was as simple as letting them eat a variety of foods early on, like our grandparents did, so their immune systems learn to accept, rather than reject them. The science shows that in many cases, it is.
Based on the LEAP Study data, if peanut allergy prevention was adopted on a mass scale, we could potentially prevent more than 100,000 cases of peanut allergies each year. That’s more than a million babies in the next decade who could be saved from the life-long burden of peanut allergies, and potentially other food allergies as well.
I’ll always wonder if I could have helped prevent my daughter’s food allergy, but I think it’s important that parents don’t blame themselves. We were all working with the best information we had at the time. However, I’m reminded of a quote by Maya Angelou, who said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” Now that the research and science has evolved and we know better, let’s spread the word and equip families with the knowledge, confidence and tools to do better, so we can raise a generation free from the burden of food allergies.
Knowledge is power. If my story resonated with you, I hope you’ll consider sharing this blog with a parent who needs to know that food allergy prevention is possible.
If your child’s pediatrician has determined that they’re ready to start nut-based foods, Mission MightyMe’s Nutty Puffs are a perfect way to regularly include peanuts and tree nuts in your little one’s diet.
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Please note: This blog post is for information purposes only and shouldn’t be used as personal, health, nutritional, or medical advice. Always consult your pediatrician with any questions about what to feed your child.
