06 Jul Pediatric Peanut Allergies Blunted But Not Eliminated by Early Introduction
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Soriano
Victoria Soriano PhD
Research Assistant/Officer, Population Allergy
University of Melbourne
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Peanut allergy is one of the most common childhood food allergies, and children rarely grow out of it. The only proven way to prevent peanut allergy is to give infants age-appropriate peanut products in the first year of life.
We previously showed there was a dramatic increase in peanut introduction from 2007-11 to 2018-19, following changes to infant feeding guidelines. We wanted to know if earlier peanut introduction would reduce peanut allergy in the general population (in Melbourne, Australia).
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We found peanut allergy did not change over the 10-year period (2.6% in 2018-2019 vs 3.1% in 2007-2011), even though there was an increase in children of East Asian ancestry, who have a higher risk of peanut allergies. Therefore, widespread early introduction of peanut products in infancy may have blunted the rise in peanut allergy that could have otherwise occurred.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Overall, we continue to show early peanut introduction is important to prevent peanut allergy. However, alone it is not likely to be sufficient to eliminate peanut allergy as there are other factors at play.
Parents and medical professionals should continue to follow the current infant feeding guidelines which recommend introducing age-appropriate peanut products in the first year of life (e.g https://preventallergies.org.au/ resources).
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: Future research should look into other risk factors in controlled trials to identify what other things are affecting the development of peanut allergy.
No disclosures
Citation:
Soriano VX, Peters RL, Moreno-Betancur M, et al. Association Between Earlier Introduction of Peanut and Prevalence of Peanut Allergy in Infants in Australia. JAMA. 2022;328(1):48–56. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.9224
[wysija_form id=”3″]
[last-modified]
The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.
Last Updated on July 6, 2022 by Marie Benz MD FAAD