A new study recently reported in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that consumption of a peanut-containing snack by infants who are at high-risk for developing peanut allergy prevents the subsequent development of allergy. The Learning Early About Peanut (LEAP) study, designed and conducted by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), with additional support from Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), and led by Professor Gideon Lack at Kings College London, is the first randomized trial to prevent food allergy in a large cohort of high-risk infants.

The prevalence of peanut allergy has doubled over the past 10 years in the U.S. and numerous other countries. Peanut allergy, which now affects approximately 1.5 percent of young children, can cause adverse reactions ranging from development of hives and abdominal pain to severe anaphylaxis that requires immediate treatment with epinephrine. Because of the risk of anaphylaxis, children with a peanut allergy are advised to avoid peanuts in their diet and must carry an epinephrine autoinjector kit with them for use in event of a severe reaction.

Peanut allergy is a negative response by the body’s immune system to harmless peanut proteins in the diet. This study was based on a hypothesis that regular eating of peanut-containing products, when started during infancy, will elicit a protective immune response instead of an allergic immune reaction. The study found in high-risk infants, sustained consumption of peanuts beginning in the first 11 months of life was highly effective in preventing the development of peanut allergy.

BRI leads the Immune Tolerance Network. Learn more about this research study on peanut allergy.