FEEDING peanuts to under-fives slashes their risk of an allergy by 71 per cent, according to a study.
About one in 50 British children are allergic to peanuts and rates are increasing.
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Reactions can be life-threatening and may be triggered even by foods that only contain tiny amounts of nuts.
Experts at King’s College London found that exposing babies and tots to peanuts consistently from a young age helps to protect them.
Professor George Du Toit, co-lead investigator from King’s, said: “This is a safe and highly effective intervention which can be started as early as four months of age.”
The study, in the journal NEJM Evidence, involved 640 children split into two groups.
This simple strategy could prevent thousands of allergy cases each year
Dr Jeanne Marrazzo
Children in one group gradually increased peanut consumption from birth to age five, and the second group ate no peanuts at all over the same period.
It found that just four per cent of the nut-eating group were allergic by the age of 12, compared to 15 per cent of those who did not eat them.
Prof Du Toit calculated that eating peanuts in infancy led to a 71 per cent lower chance of being allergic as a teenager.
He said youngsters could start on peanut paste or puffs once they are old enough to wean off milk and start eating solid foods.
Scientists think safely exposing the immune system to small amounts of an allergen can teach the body not to cause a reaction.
Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, from study funder the American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: “These findings should reinforce parents’ confidence that feeding their young children peanut products can provide lasting protection from peanut allergy.
“If widely implemented, this simple strategy could prevent thousands of cases each year.”
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON FOOD ALLERGIES?
APPROXIMATELY 44 per cent of people in Britain have an allergy or allergic disorder of some kind, says the charity Allergy UK.
Rates are higher in under-35s and lowest in pensioners.
The most common food allergies, according to the NHS, are:
- Cow milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios and Brazil nuts
- Soy beans, chickpeas and peas
- Shellfish
- Wheat
You may be allergic to a food if it makes you feel dizzy, lightheaded, sick or itchy, brings you out in hives or swollen lips or eyes, or causes diarrhoea, vomiting, a runny nose, cough, breathlessness or wheezing.