Food allergies in children dropped sharply in the years after new guidelines encouraged parents to introduce infants to peanuts, a study has found.
When Ainsley started going to school, I was shocked to hear that many of her classmates had severe peanut allergies. It was so bad that there were entire tables that were designated peanut-free, and parents were encouraged to not send their kids to school with food that contained them. Anecdotally, I don't recall any friends or acquaintances with peanut allergies as a kid, let alone a lot of them, which I'm sure contributed to my surprise. In any case, I'm glad that we're finding ways to alleviate some of that—it can't be easy to live with such a severe allergy.
Peanut Allergies Have Plummeted in Children, Study Shows
Doctors have long recommended that infants avoid peanut products. But in 2017, experts officially reversed that guidance, and food allergies decreased sharply.