Study: Peanut Products During Infancy Lowers Risk of Allergy Later in Life

If parents introduced peanut products to their children regularly before the age of 11 months, they have a higher chance of not developing a peanut allergy at 5 years of age, according to a recent study.

The study, Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP), is the first to suggest that consumption of a peanut product is the most effective strategy to food allergy prevention, which contradicts previous recommendations from public health guidelines, allergists, and pediatricians that warned parents against including allergy-causing foods in their infants’ diets.¹
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For the LEAP study, researchers conducted a randomized, controlled trial with 640 children (ages 4 to 11 months) who were considered high-risk for manifesting a peanut allergy due to present egg allergy and/or severe eczema. ^1,2

Researchers asked half of the participants to consume peanut-containing foods for 3 or more times every week, while the other half were told to avoid eating peanut products until the age of 5 years. ¹

Food frequency questionnaires completed at regular intervals throughout the study allowed researchers to monitor peanut consumption adherence in family homes.

The study showed that less than 1% of children who consumed peanut products (in the peanut group) and completed the study, developed peanut allergy by age 5, while 17.3% of those in the control group manifested the allergy.^1,2

Overall, researchers found that consuming peanuts at an early age led to an 80% reduction in the risk of peanut allergy development.^1,2

The investigators further noted that while the early introduction of peanut-products were safe and well-tolerated, infants should not be fed whole peanuts because it creates a choking risk.

The complete study is published in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

References:

1. King’s College London. Eating peanut at an early age prevents peanut allergy in high-risk infants. February 23, 2015. www.kcl.ac.uk/newsevents/news/newsrecords/2015/February/Eating-peanut-at-an-early-age-prevents-peanut-allergy-in-high-risk-infants.aspx. Accessed February 24, 2015.

2. Toit GD, Roberts G, Sayre PH, et al. Randomized trial of peanut consumption in infants at risk for peanut allergy. NEJM. 2015 February [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1414850.