Food advice could be peanuts: early exposure seems to lessen the risk of nut allergy.Consuming peanut butter in infancy appears to lessen, not increase, a child's risk of developing a peanut allergy peanut allergy Immunology A common cause of anaphylactic reactions which, unlike some allergies, is rarely outgrown; PA is the most common cause of food allergy in the US, and a leading cause of food-induced anaphylaxis and death after accidental exposure later (SN: 12/6/08, p. 8). The findings clash with some pediatric pediatric /pe·di·at·ric/ (pe?de-at´rik) pertaining to the health of children. pe·di·at·ric adj. Of or relating to pediatrics. practices of the past decade and suggest that eating peanuts early might induce tolerance and head off the aberrant immune response that underlies an allergic reaction. "This work is extremely thought-provoking and raises the possibility that an approach of trying to avoid peanuts may be the wrong thing to do," says Robert Wood, an immunologist and pediatric allergist al·ler·gist n. A physician specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. allergist Immunology A physician, who is often trained in both internal medicine and clinical immunology and who manages Pts with at Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University, mainly at Baltimore, Md. Johns Hopkins in 1867 had a group of his associates incorporated as the trustees of a university and a hospital, endowing each with $3.5 million. Daniel C. in Baltimore. --Elizabeth Quill, News Editor Risk of food allergies In one study of Jewish children, kids in the United Kingdom were several times more likely to have peanut allergies than were kids in Israel. Peanut 5.8 Sesame 2.7 Hen's egg 1.8 Cow's milk 1.3 Note: Table made from bar graph. |
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