Study: early introduction of peanuts prevented allergies

A decade after landmark research transformed pediatric allergy guidance, new findings show early peanut introduction has helped prevent peanut allergies in approximately 60,000 children.

The pivotal study analyzed electronic health records from many pediatric practices to assess food allergy diagnoses over time—before, during, and after new guidelines were implemented.

Driving the news: The early peanut introduction recommendations first appeared in 2015 for high-risk infants and were expanded in 2017 to broader infant groups, leading to a peanut allergy decline of over 27% after 2015 and more than 40% after 2017. • Despite these advances, the overall rate of food allergies among U.S. children has not declined and remains around 8%, with peanut allergies affecting over 2% of children.