Introducing peanuts to even low-risk infants reduces allergy risk: study

WINNIPEG -- A new study suggests keeping infants away from peanuts means they’ll be more likely to develop allergies, even if they are considered low risk.

According to new findings in the CHILD cohort study, children who did not eat peanut in the first year of life were more than four times as likely to develop an allergy by age three, compared to children who were given peanut to eat in their first year.

The data was gleaned from the study of more than 2,600 Canadian children and the findings published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

A Manitoba-based researcher involved in the study said the new findings build on previous research that prompted a change in advice for parents.

“Infant feeding guidelines have changed to promote the early introduction of foods such as peanut, but we know that some parents are still worried about giving their infants potentially allergenic foods,” said Elinor Simons, an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba and clinician-scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba.

Simons said previous, well-known studies focussed on children who were most at risk for developing peanut allergies, while most of the children in the most recent study don’t fall under that umbrella.

“Even when we excluded high-risk children, early peanut introduction was associated with a lower risk of peanut allergy by age three. This means that low-risk children may also benefit from early introduction of peanut,” she said.

None of the children included in the study who were introduced to peanuts before six months of age were sensitized to peanuts by age three.

When the study compared children who 18 months before eating peanut with those who were nine months, it found the delayed introduction made children seven times more likely to be sensitized or develop a clinical allergy by age three.

“This tells us that if peanut is not introduced before the age of 12 months, it should still be introduced as soon as possible,” Dr. Simons added.

The CHILD Cohort Study began in 2008 and is tracking medical data from 3,500 Canadian infants and their families to learn more about the cause of chronic illnesses.