A study published in May by King’s College London found that feeding children peanuts reduced their risk of allergies by 71 percent.
Experts at King’s College said decades of bad advice warning against introducing peanuts at a young age had caused anxiety among parents and contributed to the rise in allergies.
They predicted that if parents introduced the food into their babies’ diets from infancy, peanut allergies would “decrease significantly,” preventing 10,000 cases in the UK each year.
Dr Paul Turner, Professor of Paediatric Allergy at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, who led the research, said: “This new analysis paints an important, if mixed, picture of food allergy in the UK.
“The number of new infections has reached a plateau”
“The good news is that while the number of new cases each year has increased, the prevalence of food allergies has stagnated.”
A food allergy occurs when the immune system overreacts to certain foods such as cow’s milk, peanuts, eggs or shellfish.
In severe cases, anaphylaxis may occur, which, if not treated promptly, can cause swelling of the airways, difficulty breathing, and cardiac arrest.
Dr Turner added: “A food allergy can have a huge impact on people’s lives and, in some tragic cases, even shorten their lives.
“By better understanding the prevalence of food allergies in the UK and working with those affected, their families, scientists and doctors, we are working together to reduce this impact.”
Commenting on the study, Amena Warner, Head of Clinical Services at Allergy UK, said: “Over the years there has been a great deal of data on the incidence of food allergy and associated anaphylactic episodes in hospital admissions.
“However, there are limited, reliable data on the incidence and prevalence of food allergies that paint a complete picture of the burden of food allergies. Therefore, the data from this study are long overdue and very welcome.”
“We welcome any action resulting from this important study to improve allergy treatment for people with food allergies.”
The work was funded by the UK Food Standards Agency and the UK Medical Research Council.