Eating nuts while pregnant puts offspring at lower risk for peanut, tree allergies

(Special to the NNPA from The St. Louis American) — In the United States, the prevalence of childhood peanut allergy has more than tripled from 0.4 percent in 1997 to 1.4 percent in 2010. The onset of these allergies is usually in childhood and most often occurs with the first known exposure. Peanut or tree nut allergies typically overlap, according to the study background.

Children appear to be less at risk for developing peanut or tree nut (P/TN) allergies if their mothers are not allergic and ate more nuts during pregnancy, according to a study published by JAMA Pedia­trics, a JAMA Network publication.

A. Lindsay Frazier, M.D., Sc.M., of the Dana-Farber Children’s Cancer Center, Boston, and colleagues examined the association between pregnant mothers eating peanuts or tree nuts and the risk of P/TN allergies in their children.

Study participants included children born to mothers who previously reported their diet during, or shortly before or after, their pregnancy as part of the ongoing Nurses’ Health Study II. Among 8,205 children, researchers identified 308 cases of food allergy, including 140 cases of P/TN allergy.

Study findings indicate that children whose nonallergic mothers had the highest P/TN consumption (five times a week or more) had the lowest risk of P/TN allergy. This lower risk of P/TN allergy was not observed among the children of mothers who had a P/TN allergy.

“Our study supports the hypothesis that early allergen exposure increases the likelihood of tolerance and thereby lowers the risk of childhood food allergy. Additional prospective studies are needed to replicate this finding,” the study concludes. “In the meantime, our data support the recent decisions to rescind recommendations that all mothers avoid P/TN during pregnancy and breastfeeding.”

This article originally published in the January 6, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.