New Guidelines To Prevent Peanut Allergies | Covenant Allergy and Asthma

One of the top eight food allergies, peanut allergies affect at least 3 million people in the US. For many years, parents were advised to avoid giving peanut containing foods to their infants in an effort to avoid a peanut allergy. In more recent years, however, that recommendation has changed. Covenant Allergy and Asthma wants to help clear up any confusion about peanut allergies and what parents can do to help avoid them.

The current recommendation issued by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases is that parents introduce peanut foods to their children as early as 4-6 months. Some parents may be naturally hesitant to embrace these new guidelines considering we’ve all been operating under the opposite premise for so long.

Why did the guidelines change?
The previous recommendations to exclu­de of allergenic foods like peanuts from the diets of infants at high risk for allergy, as well as from the diets of their mothers during pregnancy and lactation, were initially created in response to increasing rates of peanut allergy in children. At the time, there had been research suggesting that exposure to peanuts during pregnancy and nursing might make babies overly sensitized to peanut by creating IgE antibodies.

In 2010, US recommendations began to change in favor of early exposure, with researchers stating there wasn’t enough evidence to support a delay of the introduction of potentially allergenic foods beyond six months. Since 2010, there have been several intervention trials published which have offered the necessary evidence to support earlier an introduction.

The most famous trial has been the LEAP Study. LEAP refers to a randomized controlled trial which was designed to uncover the best strategy to prevent peanut allergy in children. The study looked at 640 children between the age of 4 and 11 months who had been identified as high risk for peanut allergy. Half of the children had peanut foods introduced in infancy, and received continued exposure three times a week until they turned 5 years old. The other half of children in the study avoided peanut containing foods for that same time period. At the end of the LEAP study, researchers measured the proportion among each group which developed peanut allergy. It turns out that the peanut consumption group experienced less development of peanut allergy throughout the years.

What now?
Physicians should evaluate an infant’s risk for developing peanut allergy and make recommendations about when to safely introduce peanut to those children. Most infants with a history of severe eczema or egg allergy should have peanut-containing foods introduced between 4 and 6 months of age. Infants with mild to moderate eczema in infancy should be introduced to peanut-containing foods from 6 months of age.

If you have further questions about introducing your children to peanuts in an effort to avoid a peanut allergy, Covenant Allergy and Asthma is here to help! We can evaluate your infant for allergy risk and recommend whether or not peanut introduction should occur in the office or at home. Visit our website and make your appointment today.