There ’ s New Advice To Prevent Food Allergies In Children

This study — known as the Learning Early About Peanut or LEAP trial — showed that children at high risk of developing peanut allergies who are introduced to peanuts at 4 months to 6 months old had a significantly lower risk of developing a peanut allergy than those who waited until they were 5 years; 1.9% of the kids who had peanuts early developed an allergy, compared with 13.7% of the kids who waited. The LEAP trial formed the basis for Monday’s new recommendations, which encourage the early introduction of peanut products in infants at high risk for allergies. But most babies are not at high risk, and peanuts are just one of the eight culprit foods; the others are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat, soy and tree nuts, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The evidence for other foods and children The latest report explains that the same mechanism that protects infants at high risk is likely to protect infants at low or standard risk of developing food allergies. A study that examined these other foods, known as the Enquiring About Tolerance or EAT trial, recruited 1,303 3-month-olds and randomly assigned them to receive six allergenic foods — peanut, cooked egg, cow’s milk, sesame, whitefish and wheat — at that age or to wait until 6 months. The team then measured whether these infants developed food allergies between 1 and 3 years old. Only 40% of parents were able to keep up with the diverse food fr...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health News CNN Food Allergies Source Type: news