WIKIMEDIA, MR.ATOZAnalyzing data from 146 studies involving more than 200,000 children, researchers from Imperial College London have found additional evidence for the recent hypothesis that exposing young children to certain foods might reduce their risk of allergies to those foods. Specifically, the authors of this UK Food Standards Agency–commissioned meta-analysis found that babies fed eggs and peanuts had lower risk of egg and peanut allergies as children. On the other hand, the researchers did not find sufficient support for a similar conclusion regarding milk, fish (including shellfish), nuts, and wheat. The results, published today (September 20) in JAMA, support the growing realization that recommendations to delay babies’ exposure to some allergenic foods may be harmful.
“This study . . . is more evidence shedding light on the fact that early introduction in the right children can prevent allergies,” Purvi Parikh, an allergist at New York University Langone Medical Center who was not involved in the present study, told New York Daily News.
“The rigorous, comprehensive meta-analysis . . . is an important addition to the evidence regarding food allergy prevention,” Matthew Greenhawt of Children’s Hospital Colorado wrote in an accompanying editorial. “Their conclusions highlight that the 2008 guidelines to not delay introduction were correct.”
In February 2015, an international team of researchers found that infants at high risk of peanut allergies were less likely to develop the allergy if they were exposed to the food early on. Last year, a ...
