Introducing peanut-based foods for the first five years of children’s lives reduces the occurrence of allergic reactions to peanuts. 71% during adolescence. This is according to a study co-financed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and published in the medical journal NEJM Evidence. The protective effect remains even if after these first five years of exposure children stop eating peanuts for long periods, or do not consume them habitually.
Peanuts: a debilitating allergy
Peanut allergies are one of the most feared food allergies, especially in the USA, where these foods are very widespread and act as basic ingredients for many preparations. In Italy, the consumption of this food is more occasional and the allergy only affects the1% of the population. The allergic reaction to this food can be very violent and include disorders of the skin, oral mucous membranes or respiratory tract, gastrointestinal problems or even anaphylactic shock.
The new results come from a series of clinical trials known as LEAP-Trio (LEAP stands for Learning Early About Peanut Allergy), coordinated and sponsored by the US NIAID. In the first trial, about half 600 children from 4 to 11 months of age, already at risk of peanut allergy because they have an allergy to eggs, eczema or other inflammatory skin manifestations, have regularly consumed at least 6 grams of protein from peanuts in their diets up to the age of 5 years week. The other half strictly avoided any food containing peanuts. Early introduction of peanuts reduced the risk of peanut allergy at 5 years of age.81%.
A continuation of the study, called LEAP-Honasked some of the children who had consumed peanuts in early childhood to completely stop consuming them between the ages of 5 and up to 6 years of age, demonstrating that, in the majority of cases, protection from allergic reactions to peanuts continued anyway, even after this year of abstention.
Finally, after having exempted from the study the children who showed allergic reactions to peanuts at 6 years of age, the team involved the80% about of the kids from the original LEAP study in the trial LEAP-Trio, which investigated the effects of this approach in adolescence. And so it was seen that regular and early consumption of peanuts reduced the risk of allergic reactions to them in adolescence 71%. The protective effect remained even in subjects who had not consumed this type of food or their derivatives for a long time.
Better when you’re little
There research suggests that a controlled introduction, adhering to lines guide, to peanuts in early childhood can train the immune system to tolerate the allergens of this food, defusing future more severe reactions aggressive. Therapeutic approaches that try to gradually expose people to peanuts in whom the allergy is already clear and manifest are more controversial, because they lead to more frequent to anaphylaxis.
Do you think this discovery could change dietary guidelines for children? Write us your opinion in the comments!
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