Eating peanuts at 1 year old will reduce the chance of allergies

A British study found that feeding your baby with peanuts or peanut butter before the age of 1 can significantly reduce your child’s risk of allergies.

Dr. Gideon Lake, a professor at King’s College, University of London, and scientists at the University of Southampton, conducted a follow-up survey of 550 children at risk of peanut allergy and carefully examined all the children’s allergic symptoms. If your baby is fed peanut butter or peanut snacks within the age of 1, the child’s risk of peanut allergies is reduced by 74% by the age of 6. Experts say that children who eat peanuts from infancy can play a long-term protection against allergies. However, experts emphasize that for children at high risk of eczema, egg allergy, or peanut allergy, parents must consult a doctor before feeding their baby with peanuts.

The significance of the study, Dr. Lake said, is that the health department should probably consider revising recommendations that “children with a family history of peanut allergies should eat peanuts after the age of three.”