Babies Who Eat Foods Containing Peanuts Are Less Likely To Develop An Allergy

Just weeks after it was announced that giving a children a tiny daily dose of peanut protein could help ‘cure’ them of their allergy towards it, experts have come up with a way that children can hopefully avoid becoming allergic to peanuts altogether.

And considering peanut allergies currently affect around one or two children in a 100, a number that’s increasing, it would hopefully help bring down the numbers considerably.

Experts have suggested that if babies are given peanut products to eat then the risk of an allergy is cut by over 80 per cent – despite previous warnings telling at-risk families to avoid peanut products at all costs.

Researchers from King’s College London decided to test their theory after noticing that Jewish children in Israel who ate peanuts from an early age had much lower allergy levels than Jewish children in the UK – 10 times lower, to be exact.

The researchers selected babies from the age of four months, who had already showed signs of eczema, which is an early signal of allergies.

Using a skin prick test, they identified the children who hadn’t shown any signs of a peanut allergy and those who had only had a very small response.

Half of the babies were given a peanut-based snack and the other half of the babies weren’t given any peanut products.

The trial showed that for every 100 children, 14 would develop an allergy by the age of five. But this amount dropped by an astonishing 86 per cent to just two out of every 100 children with the therapy.

Even the babies who already showed a mild sensitivity towards peanuts had a positive result – their allergy rates decreased from 35 per cent to 11 per cent.

The researchers claim this is the “first time” that the development of a peanut allergy has been reduced.

“[It was] exciting to us to realise for the first time that in allergy, we can actually truly prevent the development of disease,” lead researcher professor Gideon Lack told the BBC. “It represents a real shift in culture.”

Professor Lack admitted that this research “goes very much contrary to previous advice” but he says it’s essential that researchers direct their attention to this problem.

As positive as these findings sound, the experts to stress that parents definitely shouldn’t try out this theory at home. And if you do decide to give your child food products with peanuts in, always avoid giving a child under the age of five whole peanuts as they pose a choking risk.

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