Infant Exposure Might Limit Later Peanut Allergies

In westernized countries, prevalence of allergic diseases has been increasing rapidly. Originally, allergen avoidance early in life was thought to protect against allergic diseases and, in 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that children at high risk for food allergies should avoid peanut consumption until age 3. However, the incidence of peanut allergy more than doubled between 2000 and 2008, increasing to nearly 2%; in 2008, the AAP recommendations were withdrawn.

The gut is the largest immune organ in the body, and experts now hypothesize that early introduction of highly allergenic foods might be the key to producing tolerance. Thus, researchers in the U.K. performed a randomized, controlled trial in 640 high-risk…