When infants at high risk of developing peanut allergy consume peanut on a regular basis, their risk can be dramatically reduced, according to LEAP — the Learning Early About Peanut study.
The work was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with its presentation at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2015.
“Early, sustained consumption of peanut products was associated with a substantial and significant decrease in the development of peanut allergy in high-risk infants,” according to Gideon Lack, MB BCh, from King’s College London and Guy’s and St. Thomas’ National Health Service Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, and colleagues. “Conversely, peanut avoidance was associated with a greater frequency of clinical peanut allergy than was peanut consumption, which raises questions about the usefulness of deliberate avoidance of peanuts as a strategy to prevent allergy.”
