Early introduction of peanuts in infants leads to a 71% reduction in adolescent peanut allergy risk, a groundbreaking study reveals. Introducing peanuts into infants’ diets from as early as four months has been shown to significantly reduce the likelihood of developing a peanut allergy in adolescence, a long-term study from King’s College London reveals. The study confirms that early and regular peanut consumption lowers the risk of allergy by 71% compared to avoidance.
Feeding children peanuts regularly from infancy to age five reduced the rate of peanut allergy in adolescence by 71%, even after many years when the children ate or avoided peanuts as desired. The new findings provide conclusive evidence that introducing peanuts into babies’ diets early will achieve long-term prevention of peanut allergy. Importance of Early Introduction Lead investigator Professor Gideon Lack from King’s College London said: “Decades of advice to avoid peanuts has made parents fearful of introducing peanuts at an early age.
The evidence is clear that the early introduction of peanuts in infancy induces long-term tolerance and protects children from allergies well into adolescence. This simple intervention will make a remarkable difference to future generations and see peanut allergies plummet.” LEAP-Trio Trial Findings Results from the LEAP-Trio trial are published today (May 27) in the NEJM Evidence by researchers from King’s College London and sponsored and co-funded by the US.