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Early Peanut-Feeding Guidance Linked to 43% Drop in Childhood Peanut Allergies, U.S. Study Finds

A large EHR analysis links early infant introduction guidance to sharp declines, without proving causation.

Overview

  • Published in Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia study examined electronic records for roughly 120,000–125,000 children under age 3 across nearly 50 pediatric practices.
  • Peanut allergy diagnoses fell about 43% after the 2017 guidance compared with 2012–2015, contributing to a 36% drop in overall IgE-mediated food allergies in this age group.
  • Researchers estimate roughly 57,000–60,000 fewer children developed peanut allergies since early-introduction recommendations began in 2015.
  • Egg has now surpassed peanut as the most commonly diagnosed new food allergy in young children during the study period.
  • Authors and an accompanying editorial note limits including lack of direct feeding data, a subset of practice sites, and follow-up only to age 3, while uptake of early-introduction advice by clinicians and caregivers remains uneven.