Peanut allergy is increasing in Western countries and its prevalence is estimated to be approximately 2% in young children in North America, the United Kingdom, Western Europe and Australia. It is important to note that for some people, eating a small amount of this type of legume can trigger a life-threatening allergic reaction. This, along with contradictory information on the subject, has made parents and caregivers afraid to introduce this food into their children’s diet.
However, a new study from King’s College London has found that feeding children peanuts regularly throughout early childhood and up to age five reduced the rate of peanut allergy during adolescence by 71%, even after of many years in which children ate or avoided peanuts according to their preferences.
The results have been published in NEJM Evidence and demonstrate that the early introduction of peanuts into the diet of babies will achieve long-term prevention of allergy to this food. “Decades of advice to avoid peanuts have made parents fearful of introducing them at a young age. Evidence that early introduction of peanuts in childhood induces long-term tolerance and protects children from allergies well into later life. adolescence is clear. This simple intervention will make a noticeable difference for future generations and will cause peanut allergies to plummet,” said lead researcher Professor Gideon Lack of King’s College London.
Reduce the risk of peanut allergy in young children by 81%
The new research findings come from the LEAP-Trio study, which is based on results from the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP) clinical trial. In the first trial, half of the participants were asked to consume peanuts regularly from infancy to age 5, while the other half were asked to avoid peanuts during that period. Researchers found that early introduction of peanuts reduced the risk of peanut allergy at age 5 by 81%.
The researchers followed both groups from ages 6 to 12 or older. During that period, children could choose to eat peanuts as much and as often as they wanted. They found that 15.4% of participants in the group who avoided peanuts in early childhood and 4.4% in the group who did consume peanuts during that period had a peanut allergy at age 12 or older. These results show that regular and early consumption reduces the risk of peanut allergy in adolescence by 71% compared to early avoidance.
“Early introduction to peanuts in childhood induces long-term tolerance well into adolescence and will cause peanut allergies to plummet.”
Professor George Du Toit, co-principal investigator at King’s College London, said: “This is a safe and highly effective intervention that can be implemented from 4 months of age. The baby needs to be prepared from a child’s point of view. development to begin weaning and peanuts should be introduced as a soft pureed paste or in the form of peanut buns.
The researchers also found that although participants in the LEAP peanut consumption group ate more peanuts during childhood than the other participants, overall, the frequency and amount of peanuts consumed varied widely in both groups and included periods when They didn’t eat them. This shows that the protective effect of early consumption of peanuts is maintained without the need to constantly eat these foods during childhood and early adolescence. “Early consumption of peanuts will prevent more than 100,000 new cases of peanut allergy each year worldwide,” concludes Professor Lack.
