Doctors in the United Kingdom have set the theory of allergy treatment on its head with a ground-breaking study that seems to change everything. They say eating peanut products as a baby dramatically cuts the risk of allergy. Their work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tells of carefully controlled trials on 628 babies prone to developing peanut allergy. The outcome shows the risk to allergy was cut by an astonishing 86 percent. King’s College London researchers said it was the “first time” that allergy development had been reduced. But specialists warned at-risk families should not experiment with peanut products without medical advice. The research team in London had previously found that children in Israel who started eating peanuts earlier in life had allergy levels 10 times lower than their equivalents in the U-K. The trial focused on babies as young as four months who had already developed eczema — an early warning sign of allergies. Skin-prick tests were used to identify those who had not yet developed peanut allergy or had only a very mild response. Children under five should not eat whole peanuts, the researchers said, because of the risk of choking, so half were given a peanut-based snack. The other half continued avoiding peanuts. The research would seem to explain a commonly expressed concern of recent decades that cases of peanut allergy were increasing beyond anything seen in the early 20th century. Research sets peanut allergy theory on its head
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Doctors in the United Kingdom have set the theory of allergy treatment on its head with a ground-breaking study that seems to change everything. They say eating peanut products as a baby dramatically cuts the risk of allergy. Their work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tells of carefully controlled trials on 628 babies prone to developing peanut allergy. The outcome shows the risk to allergy was cut by an astonishing 86 percent. King’s College London researchers said it was the “first time” that allergy development had been reduced. But specialists warned at-risk families should not experiment with peanut products without medical advice. The research team in London had previously found that children in Israel who started eating peanuts earlier in life had allergy levels 10 times lower than their equivalents in the U-K. The trial focused on babies as young as four months who had already developed eczema — an early warning sign of allergies. Skin-prick tests were used to identify those who had not yet developed peanut allergy or had only a very mild response. Children under five should not eat whole peanuts, the researchers said, because of the risk of choking, so half were given a peanut-based snack. The other half continued avoiding peanuts. The research would seem to explain a commonly expressed concern of recent decades that cases of peanut allergy were increasing beyond anything seen in the early 20th century. 