peanut allergy

NIAID Releases Guidelines for Introducing Peanuts to Infants At Risk for Peanut Allergy

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has released new guidelines for introducing peanuts into infants at various risk levels for peanut allergies. The addition is based upon data from a recent landmark trial and other emerging data suggesting that peanut allergies “can be prevented through introduction of peanut-containing foods beginning in infancy.”

The new guidelines were added to the “Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergies,” originally published in 2010. “The addendum provides 3 separate guidelines for infants at various risk levels for the development of peanut allergy and is intended for use by a wide variety of health care providers,” the researchers stated.
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The new guidelines recommend:

  • Infants with severe eczema, egg allergy, or both should be introduced to peanut-containing food as early as 4 to 6 months of age.
  • Infants with mild-to-moderate eczema should be introduced to peanut-containing food around 6 months of age.
  • Infants without any allergy or eczema should be introduced to peanut-containing food according to family preferences.

In addition to the new recommendations, the guidelines include instructions for introducing peanut-containing food to infants with different allergy severities, measurements of food to be fed to the infant, and recipes for families and health care providers.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Togias A, Cooper SF, Acebal ML, et al. Addendum guidelines for the prevention of peanut allergy in the United States: report of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—sponsored expert panel [published online January 4, 2017]. Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2016.10.004.