Exposing Babies to Peanuts Can Prevent Peanut Allergies

In an about-face, a new study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine says that kids exposed to peanuts as babies are significantly less likely to develop a peanut allergy when they’re older. The results are apparently so compelling, the study recommends an immediate change to infant feeding guidelines.

As the Times writes: “In the study, conducted in London, infants 4 to 11 months old who were deemed at high risk of developing a peanut allergy were randomly assigned either to be regularly fed food that contained peanuts or to be denied such food. These feeding patterns continued until the children were 5 years old. Those who consumed the foods that had peanuts in them were far less likely to be allergic to peanuts when they turned 5.”

In fact, the leader of the study, Dr. Gideon Lack, a professor of pediatric allergy at King’s College London, said that the rise of peanut allergies in recent years is likely due to the practice of withholding peanuts from babies!

Really interesting, groundbreaking stuff.

→ Read more: Feeding Infants Peanut Products Could Prevent Allergies, Study Suggests from The New York Times