One of the most common food allergies in children is peanut allergy. When complementary feeding begins we must be attentive and observe that there is no reaction to the food we give our children.
Contrary to what was believed a few years ago, several recent studies have shown that giving certain foods such as eggs and peanuts at an early age could reduce the risk of allergy to them.
Now a new study found that the consuming peanuts during breastfeeding could help reduce the risk of allergy in the future.
The study
Researchers from the Research Institute of the Children's Hospital in Manitoba, Canada conducted a study with the objective of investigate the relationship between mothers' peanut consumption during breastfeeding and its effects on their children at seven years of age.
Published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, they used information from a study on allergy and asthma in which 342 children participated, from birth in 1955 until age 15.
That previous study He had divided the children into two groups: one who was told not to consume peanuts and another who did not give any recommendation in this regard., which allowed them to see what had happened to the children of mothers who did not consume peanuts during breastfeeding.
Of the total number of participants, 58.2% of the mothers consumed peanuts during breastfeeding, while 22.5% introduced them into their children's food for about 12 months.
At 7 years, 9.4% of participating children showed sensitivity to peanuts. The lowest incidence, which was 1.7%, was observed in children whose mothers consumed peanuts during breastfeeding and introduced this food to their diet before 12 months.
On the other hand, there was a higher incidence in mothers who consumed them during breastfeeding but delayed the presence of peanuts in the feeding of their children beyond 12 months, resulting in 15.1%. On the other hand, 17.6% of children whose mothers did not consume peanuts during breastfeeding but were introduced into their diet around 12 months, showed sensitivity to them.
The researchers concluded that peanut consumption during breastfeeding combined with their introduction to food during the first year of life, are associated with a lower risk of presenting sensitivity to peanuts.
In an interview for CBC News, Meghan Azad, one of the authors of the study, commented that They hope that these results will help to continue investigating the prevention of peanut allergies.
"I think it's a very important piece of the puzzle," says Azad. "We now know that there are amazing things in breast milk, including antibodies and immune factors, and all of them could interact with peanut proteins to induce tolerance in the baby. It will be interesting to see what other groups around the world find that also they are doing research on allergies. "
