Peanut allergy affects more than 2% of US children, but research shows that new guidelines on introducing peanuts earlier in life may be dramatically lowering its incidence. MirageC/Moment RF/Getty Images

It was a question Dr. Gideon Lack asked often, when giving lectures to fellow allergists and pediatricians on the topic of food allergies: How many doctors in the room had a patient allergic to peanuts?

Normally, “virtually every doctor would have put up their hand,” Lack said. Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies, affecting more than 2% of US children, with a similar prevalence in the United Kingdom, where Lack was practicing.

But at a lecture in Tel Aviv, Israel, about 25 years ago, the audience’s response took Lack by surprise. Only two or three out of about 2

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