The American Academy of Pediatrics has joined with other other medical organizations to develop formal guidelines for when to introduce peanuts into the diet of an at risk infant. The consensus was published in the September 2015 issue of Pediatrics.
An allergy to peanuts can be deadly, and the number of children with allergies to peanuts has been on the rise. The Academy of Pediatrics has been reviewing research that strongly suggests that early introduction of peanuts into the diet of infants at high risk of peanut allergy can play a role in actually preventing peanut allergies.
The interim guidelines summarizes the evidence shown during the research that introduction of peanuts into the diet of infants between 4 and 11 months of age. The guidelines highly advise health care professionals to recommend peanut-containing products into the diets of high-risk infants. The evidence found that early peanut introduction is safe and effective.
Because some of the infants may already have developed an early onset of allergic disease, such as severe eczema or egg allergy, these children may benefit from an evaluation by an allergist, including allergy testing, and possibly have the child observed during the actual peanut ingestion.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 64,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical sub-specialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
