Dr Robert Boyle, lead author of the research from the Department of Medicine at Imperial, said: “This new analysis pools all existing data, and suggests introducing egg and peanut at an early age may prevent the development of egg and peanut allergy, the two most common childhood food allergies”.
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With this in mind, Dr. Boyle and team made a decision to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and intervention trials that assessed the effects of exposure to allergenic foods in a child’s first year of life.
Babies fed peanut between 4-11 months of age and egg between the ages of 4-6 months may be at lower risk of developing allergies to these foods later on.
The study, which was commissioned by the UK Food Standards Agency, also found feeding children peanut, between the ages of four and eleven months, may reduce risk of developing peanut allergy. Parents of these children should speak with the doctor before introducing these potentially allergenic foods, he said.
In February 2015, an global team of researchers found that infants at high risk of peanut allergies were less likely to develop the allergy if they were exposed to the food early on.
Early introduction didn’t seem to make a difference for autoimmune diseases, at least according to the available evidence; eating gluten young wasn’t associated with the risk of developing celiac disease.
Based on these numbers, the team further calculated that, for every 1,000 people, 24 cases of egg allergy and 18 cases of peanut allergy could theoretically be prevented by introducing the foods earlier in life.
Allergies to foods, such as nuts, egg, milk or wheat, affect around one in 20 children in the UK. “This suggests that early introduction of allergenic foods does not reduce risk of all types of food allergy”. “In first world countries, especially cities like NY and urban centers, children are not exposed enough to the good bacteria and good soil – and now we’re eating more processed foods with more pesticides – so we’re seeing higher rates of allergies, food allergies and asthma”.
In addition, the team analysed milk, fish (including shellfish), tree nuts (such as almonds) and wheat, but didn’t find enough evidence to show introducing these foods at a young age reduces allergy risk.
“After reading these new findings, some parents may wish to introduce egg and smooth peanut butter into the diet of their infant at the time when other solid foods are being introduced, since delaying introduction of egg and peanut is likely to increase the risk of allergy to these foods in their infant”. “The imprecise effect estimates, issues regarding indirectness, and inconclusive trial sequential analysis findings all need to be considered, together with a careful assessment of the safety and acceptability of early egg and peanut introduction in different populations”, they wrote in their paper. These studies looked at exactly when certain foods were introduced to children during their first year of life. More studies are still needed to validate the findings, the researchers said.
“We were surprised to see no effect for celiac disease, which is a different type of allergy to egg and peanut allergy”, Dr. Boyle told Medical News Today.
Additionally, they caution against feeding whole peanuts or peanut pieces to young babies, as they are a choking hazard. “If testing is negative, the paediatrician may recommend that you introduce peanut and egg into your baby’s diet”.
The study was funded by the UK Food Standards Agency who commission research to understand the causes and mechanisms of food allergy and intolerance.
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“Families should continue to follow the Government’s current long-standing advice to exclusively breastfeed for around the first six months of age because of the health benefits to mothers and babies”.
