Food Allergy Research

Some 60,000 kids have avoided peanut allergies due to landmark 2015 advice, study finds

About 60,000 children have avoided developing peanut allergies after guidance first issued in 2015 upended medical practice by recommending introducing the allergen to infants starting as early as 4 months.

"That's a remarkable thing, right?" said Dr. David Hill, an allergist and researcher at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and author of a study published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics.

Peanut Allergies Have Plummeted in Children, Study Shows

Food allergies in children dropped sharply in the years after new guidelines encouraged parents to introduce infants to peanuts, a study has found.

For decades, as food allergy rates climbed, experts recommended that parents avoid exposing their infants to common allergens. But a landmark trial in 2015 found that feeding peanuts to babies could cut their chances of developing an allergy by over 80 percent. In 2017, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases formally recommended the early-introduction approach and issued national guidelines.

New study shows 60,000 kids have been spared peanut allergies by feeding them peanuts as babies

A decade after a landmark study proved that feeding peanut products to young babies could prevent development of life-threatening allergies, new research finds the change has made a big difference in the real world. 

Advice to feed babies peanuts early and often helped 60,000 kids avoid allergies, study finds

A decade after a landmark study proved that feeding peanut products to young babies could prevent development of life-threatening allergies, new research finds the change has made a big difference in the real world.

About 60,000 children have avoided developing peanut allergies after guidance first issued in 2015 upended medical practice by recommending introducing the allergen to infants starting as early as 4 months.

Enquiring About Tolerance Trial (EAT); Learning Early About Peanut allergy trial (LEAP); skin prick test (SPT)

Follow-up study led by Dr. Gideon Lack, which found that targeting only the highest-risk infants with severe eczema reduced the population disease burden by only 4.6%, whereas when the intervention was targeted to the larger but lower-risk groups, there was a 77% reduction in peanut allergy. The estimated reduction in peanut allergy diminished with every month of delayed introduction.

Follow-up to Adolescence after Early Peanut Introduction for Allergy Prevention

Follow-up study led by Dr. Gideon Lack, which found peanut consumption, starting in infancy and continuing to age 5, provides lasting tolerance to peanut that endures into adolescence irrespective of subsequent peanut consumption, demonstrating that long-term food allergy prevention and tolerance is achievable.

Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP)

The first large-scale clinical trial, by Dr. Gideon Lack, that showed sustained peanut consumption in high-risk infants starting between 4 - 11 months until age 5, reduced the rate of peanut allergy by more than 80%.

Persistence Of Oral Tolerance To Peanut (LEAP-ON)

Study by Dr. Gideon Lack that demonstrated that the peanut allergy prevention results achieved in the LEAP Study from early and consistent peanut consumption until age 5, persist even after peanuts were then avoided for one year.

Enquiring About Tolerance (EAT)

Study by Dr. Gideon Lack of 1,300 babies with no risk factors who were given 6 allergens (peanut, egg, milk, white fish, sesame and wheat) from 3-6 months of age until age 3. Demonstrated a 67% reduction in egg allergy and a 100% reduction in peanut allergy in children who consumed sufficient amounts of these foods.

PETIT

Study of 147 infants with eczema who were fed cooked egg powder in gradually increasing doses from 4-10 months, while also undergoing aggressive eczema treatment. Showed early egg exposure reduced the risk of egg allergy by 79%.

Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD)

Using data from more than 2,100 Canadian children, researchers found that infants who avoided cow’s milk products in their first year were nearly four times as likely to be sensitized to cow’s milk compared to infants who consumed cow’s milk products before 12 months of age. Similarly, infants who avoided egg or peanut in their first year were nearly twice as likely to be sensitized to those foods compared to infants who consumed them before 12 months of age.