Exposure to Peanuts Early in Life May Help Lower Peanut Allergies: Study

Researchers have been unable to determine the cause of peanut allergies, however new research suggests a way to avoid developing an allergy to peanuts.

Exposing infants like these to peanuts before age 1 actually helped prevent a peanut allergy, lowering that risk by as much as 81 percent, doctors found. Instead of provoking an allergy, early exposure seemed to help build tolerance.

The Learning Early About Peanut Allergy study led by Professor Gideon Lack of King's College London involved 640 children who were considered at high risk of developing peanut allergy due to pre-existing severe eczema or egg allergy.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the results "without precedent" and said in a statement that they "have the potential to transform how we approach food allergy prevention."

Half the children ate foods containing peanuts at least three times a week until they were five, while the others avoided peanuts altogether.

At the end of the study 3.2 percent of the children who had eaten peanuts had an allergic reaction to them, compared with 17.2 percent of the control group.

Professor Lack said it was an important clinical development that contravenes previous guidelines.

"Whilst these were withdrawn in 2008 in the UK and US, our study suggests that new guidelines may be needed to reduce the rate of peanut allergy in our children," he said.

The study was funded in part by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Medical Research Council and Asthma U.K., the U.K. Department of Health, the National Peanut Board and others.