Based on the findings, Lack thinks most parents should start feeding their babies peanut products as early as possible — not whole peanuts or globs of peanut butter, but peanut mixed in some other food to avoid any possible choking hazard. "We've moved, really, 180 degrees from complete avoidance to we should give peanuts to young children actively," Lack says.
Other allergy experts hailed the results as an important advance. "This is a major study — really what we would call a landmark study," says , who advises the on allergies. "There's been a huge question about why there's an increase in peanut allergy and what we can do to try to stem that increase. And this is a study that directly addresses that issue." But Sicherer says we have to be careful, since some kids are really sensitive to peanuts. "
If you're a parent sitting at home with your child looking at them saying, 'Well, gee, they didn't eat peanut yet. Maybe I should run to the cupboard and get some peanut butter for them,' it could be a little bit dangerous because if you do that and the child has a bad allergic reaction, you would be at home and have a problem," Sicherer says. So Sicherer says parents who have some reason to think their kids might be allergic to peanuts should get them tested first and then only try feeding them peanuts with a doctor in the room. But other specialists say for most parents, the new findings should encourage them to start feeding their kids peanuts as early as possible. "
This is a question we get asked constantly in our clinic. When parents come in, they often have young children. They want to know what should they do. This really provides us with the answer," says , who heads the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai in New York. Sampson co-authored an being published with the study. "So now I think we're on firm ground, and we can go forward and look the parents in the eye and say, 'This is something that will be beneficial,' " Sampson says. A key question is whether kids will have to keep eating peanuts to keep any allergy at bay. Lack is following the Air Compressor for the Car in his study to find out what happened to them after they stopped eating peanuts regularly.