Studies Show An Increased Rate Of Peanut Allergy In Children

Studies have shown that peanut allergies could be genetic but whatever maybe the case, a recent one shows that it has increased to 21% since 2010 in children. This research was presented during the Annual Scientific Meeting at the American College of Allergy. The research showed that 2.5% of the children born in the US have an allergy to peanuts.

Dealing With Peanut Allergy

“Peanut allergies, along with other food allergies, are very challenging for children and families,” says Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, ACAAI member and lead author of the study to Science Daily. “While 21 percent represents a large increase in the number of kids with a likely peanut allergy, the good news is that parents now have a way to potentially prevent peanut allergy by introducing peanut products to infants early after assessing risk with their paediatrician and allergist.”

A study published in January instructs parents to introduce peanut-containing food to infants who are at various risks of developing peanut allergy. In fact this study even shows that the infants at a high-risk, if introduced to these food at an early stage, might actually be able to fight peanut allergy.

The Increase In Allergy

For the current research, more than 53,000 US homes were under an analysis between October 2015 and September 2016. The findings were that there was an increased rates of peanut, tree nut, shellfish, fin fish, and sesame allergies. The allergy to tree nuts had risen by 18% since 2010, when the data was last collected.

“According to our data, the risk of peanut allergy was nearly double among black children relative to white children,” says food allergy researcher Christopher Warren, PhD candidate and study co-author to Science Daily. “Black children were also significantly more likely to have a tree nut allergy relative to white children. These findings are consistent with previous work by our group suggesting that black children in the U.S. may be at elevated food allergy risk. It’s important that anyone with a food allergy work with their allergist to understand their allergy and how best to avoid the foods that cause their allergic reaction.”