Giving babies – between four and six months – very small amounts of soft peanut butter could dramatically reduce peanut allergy, says a team of scientists from the University of Southampton, King’s College London, and the National Institute of Health and Care Research, in the United Kingdom. Research revealed that there is a crucial opportunity during weaning to reduce allergy cases by 77%. According to these scientists, the British Government should change its recommendation of not introducing solids until six months.
While the message is directed to national health authorities, this is what is recommended in many countries, and is also what UNICEF and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate. Experts warn that whole or chopped nuts and peanuts pose a choking risk and should not be given to children under five years of age.
The current general recommendation is to incorporate peanuts (chopped) or in butter starting at approximately six months. It is estimated that a baby is ready to eat his or her first solid foods if he/she:
– Can remain seated and hold head firmly.
– Can coordinate his/her eyes with hands and mouth to look at food, pick it up, and put it in his/her mouth.
– Can swallow food rather than spit it out.
What is peanut allergy?
Peanut allergy is a common condition in which a person’s body reacts to the proteins contained in certain nuts. Nuts that often cause allergic reactions include peanuts, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios. Peanut allergies can cause severe symptoms, can even be life-threatening, and affect a person’s quality of life. Peanut allergies occur when a person’s immune system considers the proteins in peanuts to be foreign and produces chemicals that damage the body to fight these proteins. Peanut allergies can occur in people of any age but are most common in children. Some people can outgrow a peanut allergy, but for those who are more sensitive, a peanut allergy can cause a very severe reaction.
Why do food allergies occur?
Peanut allergy affects approximately 2% of the population in Western nations and is estimated to be increasing in prevalence. In the United Kingdom, where this latest study was carried out, it has been increasing, and it is estimated that currently one in 50 children is affected by this problem. Food allergies occur when our immune system mistakes something harmless and takes it as a severe threat. For some, even a small amount of peanuts can trigger such an overwhelming immune response that it becomes life-threatening.
It has long been said that foods that can cause allergies should be avoided during the first years of life. However, evidence over the past 15 years calls this into question. Instead, eating peanuts while the immune system is still developing ᅳ and learning to recognize friend from foe ᅳ can reduce allergic reactions, experts say.
This also means that the body’s first experience with peanuts is in the stomach, where it is more likely to recognize it as food, rather than in the skin, where it is more likely to be treated as a threat. In Israel, for example, where peanut snacking is common at a young age, the allergy rate is lower. Other studies recommend also introducing other foods linked to allergies – such as eggs, milk, and wheat – at an earlier age to reduce exposure. There are many other studies with solutions to eliminate peanut allergies, as an important part of the multi-year research series on it. For example, toothpaste could prevent severe peanut allergy, a study indicates. This and other studies may be of interest to many parents.
Simple, secure, and low cost
According to the most recent study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, introducing this change in the baby’s diet would result in a 77% reduction in peanut allergy. That is the equivalent of 10,000 of the approximately 13,000 cases of peanut allergy that occur each year in the country. Delaying the introduction of foods containing peanuts until the child is one year old would only reduce allergy cases by 33%, they say.
Other studies recommend also introducing other foods linked to allergies at an earlier age. For babies with eczema, which is a risk factor for allergies, researchers recommend starting at four months, if the baby is ready.
Researchers say parents should start by offering the baby small amounts of fruit or vegetables. Then, when the baby is comfortable, you can offer about three teaspoons of peanut butter per week and maintain this amount for years. Peanut butter, which can be a little dry at times, can be given along with breast milk. Graham Roberts, a professor at the University of Southampton, says the decades-long recommendation to avoid peanuts has understandably created fear in parents.
However, he says this is a “simple, low-cost and safe intervention” that would “provide enormous benefits to future generations.”
