Peanut allergy can be reduced by eating peanut products, says study

The best way to prevent a peanut allergy in young children is to feed them peanut products, according to a study published on Monday.

Giving peanut protein to infants at high risk of the allergy caused an 81 per cent fall in the numbers who went on to develop the condition, says a UK study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Children growing up in Israel eat peanuts from an early age and have a much lower incidence of peanut allergy than children in the UK. Researchers from King’s College London led by Dr Gideon Lack and from the US National Institutes of Health wanted to discover whether early peanut consumption could reduce incidence of the allergy in children.

The study involved more than 600 infants between four and 11 months, all at high risk of developing a nut allergy. They were split into two groups, one receiving peanut protein every week while the other avoided it completely.

The children were monitored until age five and then tested for nut allergy. Those who received peanuts had an 81 per cent lower incidence of the allergy than the others, the researchers say. Most clinical guidelines suggest those at risk of allergy avoid peanuts, but these results for the first time showed there was a benefit in consuming peanut protein, the authors say.