In recent years the prevalence of food allergies has been increasing. According to data from the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology and Pediatric Allergy (SEICAP), around 4-8% of Spanish children suffer from some type of allergy to certain foods, the most frequent being milk, nuts (especially peanuts), fish, shellfish, gluten and soy.
This type of allergy not only reduces the variety of foods that the affected person can eat, but even a small amount can trigger symptoms ranging from skin reactions, respiratory problems, digestive discomfort to an anaphylactic shock that can be fatal. Fortunately in most cases death does not occur, but it does limits diet and creates stress by having to always be aware of what foods are consumed.
To prevent the appearance of this type of allergies, the usual recommendations have been to delay the introduction of potentially allergenic foods. However, in recent decades, some studies have been published suggesting that introducing these foods early could reduce the risk of food allergies.
In a study carried out in the Imperial College London Data from 146 previous studies that in total involved 200.000 children were analyzed. The results, published in the journal JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), showed that children who began to eat eggs between 4 and 6 months of age were 40% less likely to develop an allergy to this food compared to children who began to eat it later. As for peanuts, it was found that children who began to ingest it between 4 and 11 months of age were 70% less likely to suffer from allergies to it.
However, The study authors caution that these percentages are estimates for the time being and may vary as new research is done. In addition, they recommend not introducing these foods to babies who already have other food or other allergies. If you decide to offer the baby peanuts, they should never be whole to avoid choking, but should be offered in the form of butter.
On the other hand, the early introduction of potentially allergenic foods contradicts the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to maintain exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age, therefore, the study authors consider that more research is needed to establish a precise age of introduction of these foods.
Therefore already waiting for new results, these recommendations do not justify the introduction of food before 6 months, when breastfeeding should be exclusive, but if an earlier introduction of the egg and the peanut, along with the rest of foods.