By Savvy Auntie Staff Writers

Important news about changes in how to help prevent children from developing a peanut allergy is counter to government recommendations made until now. Yesterday, the National Institute of Health has released new guidelines for introducing foods containing peanuts to infants, with three specific guidelines for babies who have severe eczema, an egg allergy, or both. The understanding now is that introducing peanut-containing foods to children as infants dramatically reduces the risk of having peanut allergies when they get older.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-funded LEAP, or Learning Early About Peanut Allergy, held a randomized clinical trial involving more than 600 infants, inspired in part by the much lower level of peanut allergies found among Israeli children. Israelis have a cultural tradition of feeding babies a wildly popular peanut flavored Israeli snack called Bamba. Israel21C reports that Bamba is the top selling snack in the nation, with 90 percent of Israelis buying it on a regular basis. The snack contains 50 percent peanuts.

Israel21C reports that an international team of researchers, led by Dr. Gideon Lack, a professor of pediatric allergy at King’s College London, set out to learn how the low rates of peanut allergies among Israeli children compared with Jewish children of similar ancestry in the UK. In other words, is it that Jewish children of Eastern European decent are less-likely to have peanut allergies, or are Israeli children less-likely to have peanut allergies because they have a much higher consumption rate of foods containing peanuts from infancy. The latter proved to be the right hypothesis; Israeli children are less likely to have peanut allergies because they are fed foods that contain peanuts as infants. The Jewish children in the UK who were not fed peanuts as infants were as likely to contract a peanut allergy as other UK children who had a similar peanut-free diet.

To learn more about the NIH-sponsored LEAP study and the specific new guidelines to help prevent peanut allergies among your baby nieces and nephews - and all newborn children, click here - and consult their pediatrician.

Photo: orcearo
Published: January 6, 2017