Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Peanuts For Babies? Studies Back Allergy-preventing Strategy

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 04 Mar, 2016 12:22 PM
    CHICAGO — Two new studies bolster evidence that feeding babies peanuts or other allergy-inducing foods is more likely to protect them than to cause problems.
     
    One study, a follow-up to landmark research published last year, suggests that the early prevention strategy leads to persistent, long-lasting results in children at risk for food allergies. It found that allergy protection lasted at least through age 5 and didn't wane even when kids stopped eating peanut-containing foods for a year.
     
    That means at-risk kids who don't want to eat peanut butter on a weekly basis can take safely take a break, at least for a year.
     
    The second new study suggests that the early strategy could also work with eggs, another food that can cause allergies in young children. It found that allergies to peanuts and eggs were less common in young children who started eating those foods at 3 months of age than in kids who as infants received only breast milk.
     
    The New England Journal of Medicine published both new studies online Friday, coinciding with their presentation at a medical meeting in Los Angeles.
     
    Food allergies are common, potentially serious and sometimes deadly. They're becoming more prevalent in children in many countries, affecting up to 8 per cent of kids under age 3. About 2 per cent of U.S. kids have peanut allergies.
     
    The results from last year's study prompted a sea change in experts' approach to preventing these allergies. It was the first "to show that early introduction of peanut can prevent the development of allergy to it," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement.
     
    It also led to new draft guidance issued Friday by a panel convened by Fauci's agency. The recommendations include giving at-risk kids peanut-containing food as early as 4- to 6-months of age. Infants at risk are those with severe skin rashes or egg allergies; allergy tests are recommended beforehand.
     
    The agency paid for last year's study and follow-up, and will issue final guidelines after a 45-day comment period. The draft guidance echoes advice issued last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups in response to the ground-breaking study.
     
    That study involved more than 600 at-risk British infants. By age 5, peanut allergies were much less common in children who had started eating peanut-based foods before age 1, usually peanut butter or a peanut-based snack, than among children who'd been told to abstain.
     
     
    The follow-up involved most of those children. After a year off, an additional three kids in both groups tested positive for peanut allergies. The allergies remained much less common in the early peanut eaters — affecting just under 5 per cent of those kids versus almost 19 per cent of the others.
     
    The new results suggest that early introduction of allergy-inducing foods results in "true tolerance" in at-risk kids, said Dr. Stacy Dorris, an allergist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She was not involved in the research.
     
    The second study involved 1,300 study breast-fed British children randomly assigned to get several types of allergy-inducing foods or just breast milk.
     
    The strongest results were with peanut-based food and eggs but there was one hitch. About 60 per cent of the early eaters didn't stick to the program. Some may have had immature swallowing skills; some doctors don't recommend starting solid foods until around 4 months of age. But it's possible some parents stopped giving solid foods because they noticed allergy-like symptoms, which may have included false alarms, said Dr. Gideon Lack, a King's College London researcher who led all three studies.
     
    The results suggest feeding these foods to at-risk infants is safe, but often not feasible in infants so young, said Dr. Gary Wong, a Hong Kong pediatrician. He wrote an editorial published online with the new studies.
     
    Still, Wong said the new studies confirm that the old approach to preventing food allergies — avoiding certain foods early in life — is probably obsolete.
     
    "Evidence is really building up. It appears early introduction would be better off than avoidance," said Wong, who is also an associate editor at the journal.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Shares Of Weight Watchers Soar As Oprah Winfrey Commercial Begins To Air

    Shares Of Weight Watchers Soar As Oprah Winfrey Commercial Begins To Air
    The weight loss company's shares are soaring as a TV commercial starring Winfrey begins to air.

    Shares Of Weight Watchers Soar As Oprah Winfrey Commercial Begins To Air

    Functional Training, High-intensity Interval Training Top Fitness Trends For '16

    Functional Training, High-intensity Interval Training Top Fitness Trends For '16
    TORONTO — For a second year in a row, Canadian fitness experts are touting functional fitness and high-intensity interval training as top workout trends.

    Functional Training, High-intensity Interval Training Top Fitness Trends For '16

    Eat Only When You Are Hungry For Better Health

    Eat Only When You Are Hungry For Better Health
    Do you tend to munch something or the other between your meals even when you are not hungry? If yes, such a habit could certainly satisfy your taste buds but harm your health, warns a new study.

    Eat Only When You Are Hungry For Better Health

    Beware! E-cigarettes May Lead To Cancer

    Marketed as a safer alternative to conventional tobacco cigarettes, electronic cigarettes could actually damage cells in ways that could lead to cancer, suggests new research.

    Beware! E-cigarettes May Lead To Cancer

    What Makes Foodies Happy And Dieters Sad

    What Makes Foodies Happy And Dieters Sad
    Contrary to popular perceptions, foodies - those who take time to appreciate the texture, flavour and beauty of food - do not eat larger portions than what the dieters generally eat, says new research.

    What Makes Foodies Happy And Dieters Sad

    How Eating 'Healthy' Food Can Make You Fat!

    How Eating 'Healthy' Food Can Make You Fat!
    Raj Raghunathan from University of Texas at Austin, and colleagues utilised a multi-method approach to investigate the "healthy equal to less filling" intuition.

    How Eating 'Healthy' Food Can Make You Fat!