A recent study has caused grief to parents as it has found that children who eat peanut products as children are more likely to develop peanut allergies as teenagers.
According to the study, children who ate peanut products from four months to six months to five years were 71% less likely to have a peanut allergy by age 13.
The study was sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health and was published earlier this week in the medical journal NEJM Evidence, USA Today reported.
In a 2015 study of more than 600 high-risk infants, half ate peanut products from infancy to age five, while the other half avoided them.
The study found that consuming chickpea products early on reduced the risk of chickpea allergy by 81% by age five. However, children diagnosed with allergies are instructed to avoid peanuts.
A new study evaluated more than 500 children from the original study to assess the long-term effects of early peanut consumption on the development of peanut allergy.
It was found that the group that regularly ate chickpeas in the first year had a 71% lower risk of developing a chickpea allergy in adolescence than the group that avoided chickpeas.
This suggests that early consumption of chickpea can provide long-term protection against chickpea allergy.
Sung Poblete, CEO of Food Allergy Research and Education, which aims to improve the quality of life and health of people with food allergies.
“Eat early, often eat what we say, and this study shows that,” said Poblete, the new study can be used as a preventive medicine.
