IDEAL DIET FOR BABIES? EGGS AND PEANUTS, SAY DOCS

Small, early dozes of common food triggers can protect kids from developing allergies later on

Evidence in favour of feeding infants peanuts and eggs continues to accumulate. The latest study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, supports the idea that small, early doses of common food triggers can protect kids from developing allergies later on.

If this sounds counterintuitive, think about what allergies are: an overreaction by the immune system to an ordinarily harmless trigger. On their own, pollen, shellfish, and peanuts are completely harmless to the human body. But once the body decides that shrimp cocktail or a Snickers bar is a threat, they may as well be poison. Allergies can be treated; they can’t be cured. So ideally, we should be able to prevent them from arising in the first place.

To do that, we’d need to toughen up our immune systems by telling them that common triggers are not going to hurt us. And to do that, scientists say, we need exposure to these triggers in small doses at a young age. This practice seems to work for dog allergies — but does it work for deadlier food allergies?

Scientists have conducted lots of experiments to find out. One study alone is not enough to confirm a hypothesis. So, a team of researchers decided to take a look at these food allergen studies and assess whether or not they agreed with one another. They found more than 200 articles describing 146 experiments conducted between 1946 and 2016 on early introduction of common food triggers, including peanuts, eggs, gluten, and fish.

Analysis of these studies found that they did indeed support the concept of introducing certain foods early on. The evidence was strongest in favour of peanuts and eggs and limited on fish. The data also suggested that giving healthy young kids small doses of gluten was safe and would not lead to celiac disease down the road.

These findings are not earth-shattering, but they are encouraging, especially since pediatricians in several countries have already begun to encourage parents to give eggs and peanuts to their babies. This is a reversal of earlier recommendations, which warned against any exposure to potential allergens. The most recent infant feeding guidelines from the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also say the same thing.

These latest recommendations are not the final word. The studies on which they’re based are not perfect. The ideal scientific experiment is “blind” — that is, participants don’t know if they’re in the experimental or control group. But it’s pretty hard to blind an experiment. To be completely certain, researchers sa that we need more research.

On their own, pollen, shellfish, and peanuts are completely harmless to the human body. But once the body decides that shrimp cocktail or a Snickers bar is a threat, they may as well be poison