New Study Examines Peanut Allergies in Toddlers

New Study Examines Peanut Allergies in Toddlers

Updated: May 31, 2024 at 7:30 PM ET

Peanut allergies in children are dangerous. There is new evidence that parents can prevent them. We have Dr. Scott Hadland here to explain. He is the Chief of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hadland, it's great to see you. Thank you. Let's start with the study. What did we find? This study actually extends the findings of existing studies. If we go back a little bit, 15 years ago when I started my pediatric residency, we used to tell parents not to feed peanuts to their young babies because they might develop a peanut allergy. Now, fast forward to 2015. A groundbreaking study was published. In that study, they divided children who were at high risk of developing a peanut allergy in their first year of life into two groups. In one group, their parents were still told not to feed their children peanuts in their first year of life. In the other group, they actually asked their parents to feed their children peanuts from an early age. And lo and behold, the children who were fed peanuts in their first year of life were dramatically less likely to develop a peanut allergy by the time they were 5 years old. This week's study extends that to when those children are now 12 years old. Researchers found that many years later, at age 12, about one-third of children who were exposed to peanuts in their first year of life were still more likely to have a peanut allergy. This completely upends what we thought. This study shows that we need to introduce these allergens very early in life. Do you think we've protected our kids too much? We've protected them for too long. There was this idea that we shouldn't give them anything, but maybe now we should, right? That's right. I think this is an example of doing the right research that shows that's exactly what we should be doing, which is giving these allergens at an early age. So what's the safest way to give them to children? By giving them peanuts and other allergens early in life, ideally between the ages of 4 and 6 months. It's hard to give a child peanut butter at that age, you know? So you have to wait until they start eating other foods. They're probably eating cereal, fruits, vegetables. Once they get to that stage, you can give them some breast milk or formula or rice cereal and put a little bit of peanut butter in there and mix it in and see if that works. If it works, then you can gradually increase the amount of peanuts over the course of the days. That's how you introduce things. It seems like peanuts are at the top of the list in terms of how many people have severe allergies, but you know, there are a lot of other allergens and this method may work for some of the other allergens as well. Things like eggs and shellfish, pet hair and dander. Yeah, the list is long, right? Soy, oatmeal wheat dander. You just have to have a dog. But as you say, there's a wide variety of food allergens and a lot of them are very common. So we're saying, yes, I mean, to be clear, the studies were focused on peanuts, but the principle here is that introducing kids to these allergens between the ages of 4-6 months may help protect them from allergies in the long term. Is it like a vaccine? Yes. Maybe you get a small amount and your body is able to adapt to it or fight it off. Yeah, I think the mechanisms are different, but you can think of it in the same way. In this case, you're actually trying to get your body to react. With a vaccine, it's a little bit different because you're actually trying to get your body to react, but the idea is the same.

New Study Examines Peanut Allergies in Toddlers

Updated: May 31, 2024 at 7:30 PM ET

Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Massachusetts General Children's Hospital, explains what the new research reveals and what parents can do if they are exposing their infants to allergens.

Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Massachusetts General Children's Hospital, explains what the new research reveals and what parents can do if they are exposing their infants to allergens.