Peanut cure for peanut allergy

Tuesday February 24th, 2015

Children who consume peanut foods when they are weaned are unlikely to develop allergy to the nut, British researchers reported last night.

Experts said the findings fly in the face of former guidelines- which have since been withdrawn.

The finding is the latest from British experts to suggest that the best way to give a child peanut allergy is to protect them from peanuts from birth.

Researchers said the "majority" of high risk infants showed no sign of peanut allergy at the age of five if they ate the substance at 11 months and continue to eat it frequently.

Some 640 children took part in the research and half followed this plan. The other half avoided peanuts until the age of five.

The researchers excluded infants from the study when tests showed they already had strong reactions to peanuts.

Just a handful - 1% - of those who ate peanuts developed the allergy.

This contrasted with 17.3% of those who avoided peanuts.

The findings were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researcher Professor Gideon Lack, of King's College, London, UK, said: "This is an important clinical development and contravenes previous guidelines.

"Whilst these were withdrawn in 2008 in the UK and US, our study suggests that new guidelines may be needed to reduce the rate of peanut allergy in our children."

Randomized Trial of Peanut Consumption in Infants at Risk for Peanut Allergy New England Journal of Medicine 23 February 2015

Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Child Health | Diet & Food | UK News

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