In what one local expert calls alandmark study, researchers say infants and toddlers who were randomly assigned to consume peanuts in their first years of life were far less likely to develop peanut allergies than children who avoided peanuts altogether.
And the difference between the two groups was not a small one.
The infants who avoided peanuts were seven times more likely to develop allergies than those who ate peanuts.
Dr. Kirsi Jarvinen-Seppo, director of the Children's Food Allergy Center at Golisano Children's Hospital, just returned to Rochester from a conference where the study was formally introduced. She said these findings themselves are not surprising.
"But what is surprising is the impact and the magnitude of the impact. We've been gearing toward earlier introduction of highly allergenic foods but this magnitude of reduction was surprising."
Jarvinen-Seppo says the government will likely adjust infant feeding guidelines as a result of the study. In the meantime, she advises those at high risk of peanut allergy - those with severe eczema or egg allergy - to be evaluated by a health care provider.
She said it is possible that a doubling of peanut allergy in children in Western countries in the past decade is due, at least in part, to the avoidance of peanuts.
The study was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
