Babies who eat food containing peanuts are significantly less likely to develop an allergy to them, a groundbreaking new study has revealed.
The results are "so compelling and the problem of the increasing prevalence of peanut allergy so alarming that new guidelines should be forthcoming very soon", said the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers at King's College London tested babies at risk of developing allergies over a period of four years. Half of the children were regularly exposed to foods containing peanuts, while the rest received none. By the time the children were five, only one per cent of those who had been given peanut protein developed an allergy, compared with 17.5 per cent of the rest.
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"[It was] exciting for us to realise for the first time that, in allergy, we can actually truly prevent the development of a disease," lead researcher Professor Gideon Lack told the BBC. "It represents a real shift in culture."
Previously, parents were advised not to expose at-risk children to any peanut products, but Professor Lack argues the study shows that not only was this advice wrong, it actually contributed to a rise in allergies.
"We realise this is very much contrary to previous advice, but it is essential that we direct our attention to this group of infants and stem this growing epidemic of peanut allergy," he said.
Allergy levels in the western world are soaring, with one in 50 schoolchildren in the UK suffering from a peanut allergy, which can be fatal. Scientists are now calling for new public health guidelines to be introduced.
However, parents with at-risk children have been warned not to experiment with peanut exposure without first seeking medical advice. "Don't try this at home," said leading allergy specialist Dr Andrew Clark.
The study leaves a number of questions unanswered, including whether allergy prevention will continue if children stop eating peanuts and whether this method could work with other food allergies.
"Exposure treatment like this still needs more testing," says Science Now magazine. "But for prevention of a life-threatening allergy, the landscape has changed."
