Timing of Allergenic Food Introduction Lowers Risk of Food Allergy

It remains uncertain whether food allergy can be prevented using earlier allergenic food introduction.

A new study investigated the correlation between allergenic food introduction timing to infant diet and the risk of food allergy.

This was a systematic review and meta-analysis that included Medline, Embase, and CENTRAL databases to search for relevant articles until December 2022. 

Randomized controlled trials evaluating age at allergenic food introduction during infancy and immunoglobulin E (IgE)–mediated food allergy from 1-5 years of age were included.

Overall, 23 trials were selected, including 13,794 subjects. 

• Moderate-certainty evidence (4 trials) suggested that introducing multiple allergenic foods between 2 to 12 months of age lowered the risk of food allergy. 

• Moderate-certainty evidence (5 trials) suggested that multiple allergenic foods at this age span were linked to a greater propensity to withdrawal from the intervention. 

• There was high-certainty evidence (9 trials) of egg introduction from 3-6 months of age, which decreased the risk of egg allergy.

• High-certainty evidence (4 trials) depicted that peanut introduction between 3-10 months of age lowered the risk of peanut allergy. 

• Low-certainty evidence was found between early cow’s milk introduction and the risk of cow’s milk allergy.

Although multiple allergenic food introduction in the first year of life lowers the risk of food allergy development, it is associated with a high rate of intervention withdrawal. Planning allergenic food interventions that are safe for infants is necessary.

Source: JAMA Pediatr. March 27, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.0142

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2802512