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.