Peanut exposure level linked to allergy rate

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that feeding young children peanut products could help prevent peanut allergies. This challenges the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation which calls for children under the age of three who are at risk of developing allergies to avoid consuming peanut products.

The study was conducted by Dr. Gideon Lack, a pediatric allergist at King’s College London. The test subjects were children under 11 months old who either had eczema or were allergic to eggs. The 530 infants were randomly divided into two groups. Subjects in the first group regularly consumed food containing peanuts, and subjects in the second group were strictly withheld from eating such products. The children were given an allergy test when they turned five, and 1.9 percent of group that was exposed to peanuts ended up developing an allergy compared to 13.7 percent of children in the second group.

The study also examined children who already had a sensitivity to peanuts. The results for these 98 infants were similar to the findings for subjects who had no prior sensitivity. Of children in the in the group that consumed peanuts, 10.6 percent developed an allergy, which is significantly lower than the 35.3 percent that developed an allergy in the group that avoided peanuts.

This study follows a survey that Dr. Lack conducted in 2008 that compared peanut allergy rates amongst children in Israel and the United Kingdom. The survey found that the incidence of peanut allergy developed at one-tenth the rate in Israeli children compared to Jewish children in Britain. Dr. Lack suspected that this could be because Israeli children are fed more peanut products in infancy compared to British children. The new study, which had test subjects from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, supports the initial hypothesis.

The rate of peanut allergy in the United States has been rapidly increasing. Currently about two percent of American children have a peanut allergy compared to just 0.5 percent 18 years ago. Allergists Dr. Hugh A. Sampson and Dr. Rebecca S. Gruchalla wrote an editorial that appeared alongside the study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The editorial pointed out that we now should be able to do something to reverse the increasing prevalence of peanut allergies.