Early exposure to peanuts may actually prevent allergies
In the last decade, peanut allergies have become a growing concern for parents — according to Health Canada, it’s one of the most common food allergies. But scientist recently discovered that early introduction to foods like peanuts and eggs may actually help prevent children from developing these allergies.
Under the current Health Canada guidelines, parents are told to exclusively breastfeed (or use a breastfeeding alternative, like formula) before the age of 6 months. After that time, they can begin experimenting with solid foods and common allergens like peanut-based products, fish, wheat, milk, soy and eggs. But a new study suggests introducing these allergens as early as 4 months may be linked to better immunity and less risk of allergies.
Sifting through the results of more than 140 studies, researchers were able to conclude with “moderate certainty” that both early introduction to eggs (between the ages of 4 and 6 months) and peanuts (between the ages of 4 and 11 months) reduced the risk of those allergies. While this didn’t hold true for other common allergens like wheat and fish, if these findings can help prevent children from developing these common allergies in the slightest, it would be a big step.
“It’s still not clear if this approach alone will prevent the whole food allergy epidemic,” write Merryn Netting, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Katie Allen, a Paediatric Gastroenterologist and Allergiston for Essential Baby.
“Some children will still develop food allergies despite following the feeding guidelines. [But] experts agree there appears to be a window of opportunity in the first year of life where exposure to foods such as peanut and egg decreases the risk of allergy to these foods.”
“Diet diversity remains an important part of a healthy diet.”
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