Feeding Young Children Peanuts May Reduce Allergy Risk: Study

Children who consume peanut products in the first five years of life are less likely to develop a peanut allergy, even as they approach early adolescence, according to a study published Tuesday.

The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), is a continuation of a previous study that showed a strong link between early exposure to peanuts – from four to six months to 5 years of age – and a lower risk of developing a peanut allergy. The researchers compared the prevalence of peanut allergies in the peanut exposure group with a group that avoided peanut consumption during the same period of time.

The latest study shows that tolerance developed from early exposure to peanuts lasts even when study participants reach 13 years of age. Of the 640 participants in the original study, 497 were included in the follow-up study, and peanut allergies remained significantly more prevalent in the original group that avoided peanuts than in the group that had consumed peanuts since childhood.

In the group that avoided early consumption of peanuts, 38 of the 246 participants (15.4%) had peanut allergies. Among those in the other group who had consumed peanuts since childhood, 11 of the 251 participants (4.4%) had a peanut allergy at age 13.

Participants were allowed to consume peanuts as they pleased from ages 5 to 13, with participants in both groups reporting avoiding peanuts for prolonged periods.

Researchers now to say that it is important for parents to feed their children peanut products from the age of 6 months if they do not have eczema, and from the age of four months if they do have eczema.

Peanut allergies have been on the rise in recent years, especially among children. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Peanut allergies in children increased by 21% between 2010 and 2017, and nearly 2.5% of U.S. children, according to the 2017 study, may have a peanut allergy.

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