Intuitively you would think that avoiding allergens is best. But in reality, exposing yourself early is what can help prevent them. Thinking on allergies has changed a great deal over the past few years and new guidelines from the Canadian Pediatric Society have reflected how our thinking has evolved.
Check out the article here :Â https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/christopher-labos-early-exposure-can…
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New guidelines issued by the Canadian Pediatric Society have changed course on the best way to prevent food allergies in children. Previous recommendations had suggested delaying the introduction of high-risk foods. For example, it used to be felt that introducing dairy products should only happen after children were 1 year old, whereas eggs should be delayed until 2 years, and peanuts, nuts and fish until 3 years.
This volte-face may seem surprising, because it seems intuitively obvious that you should avoid something that causes allergies. However, avoiding potential allergens may actually be making the problem worse.
Parents have been perennially worried about peanut allergies. Any parent whose child has a food allergy will understand how labour intensive it is to make sure they don’t accidentally eat something they shouldn’t. Peanuts have always been an issue because of their propensity to be included as an ingredient in candy and other sweets. What is more, peanut allergies, and food allergies in general, seem to be becoming more common.
You will no doubt hear reports that peanut allergies have been increasing alarmingly over the past decade. This data comes from a 2010 U.S. survey, though it is somewhat misleading. In 1997, peanut allergies affected roughly 0.4 per cent of children, in 2002 it was 0.8 per cent and in 2008 it was 1.4 per cent. So while these numbers do reflect a doubling and then tripling of the incidence of peanut allergies, in absolute terms it represents a one-percentage-point increase. A Canadian study found similar numbers, with 1.03 per cent of children having a confirmed peanut allergy. So all this to say peanut allergies are still fairly rare.
But why this increase in allergies? Avoiding high-risk foods like peanuts early in life may in fact be the cause. In the first few months, your immune system must essentially learn to differentiate normal cells from foreign pathogens like bacteria and viruses. If this process fails, auto-immune diseases are the result. Allergies are conceptually similar, and common allergy symptoms are the result of your immune system mounting a response against otherwise benign substances like peanuts, eggs or ragweed.
It is now felt that delaying the introduction of peanuts and other foods means that your immune system never learns to process these foods properly and sees them as potentially dangerous pathogens when they are introduced later. Compelling evidence for the benefit of introducing peanuts early in life came from the LEAP study. The results published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015 took 530 infants who were at high risk for developing peanut allergies because they already had severe eczema or an egg allergy. They found that introducing food containing peanuts between four months and 11 months decreased the incidence of peanut allergies dramatically.
There are other factors to keep in mind. How you come in contact with the allergen for the first time also seems to matter. Skin contact, in fact, seems to be worse than consuming something orally. Peanut oil, often used in creams and lotions, might actually be the means by which many were exposed and sensitized to peanuts without realizing it.
If you already have a peanut allergy, this new advice is somewhat cold comfort. There is no cure, but new treatments may be coming. A recent trial tested a new oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy. Once treated, 67.2 per cent of allergic patients were able to eat peanuts without symptoms, compared to 4 per…
