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Decades of faulty medical guidance telling parents to keep peanuts away from babies likely fueled the childhood food allergy crisis, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. Health experts spent years recommending that parents avoid exposing infants to common allergens as food allergy rates climbed. But a 2015 trial flipped that thinking on its head, finding that feeding peanuts to babies slashed their chances of developing an allergy by over 80 percent, New York Times reported. After national guidelines reversed course in 2017, food allergy rates in children under 3 dropped 36 percent between 2017 and 2020 compared to 2012-2015 levels. Peanut allergies specifically fell 43 percent. Dr. David Hill, a pediatric allergist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who led the study, said allergens first encountered through skin can trick the immune system into treating them as threats, but introducing food allergens through the gut builds tolerance. (RELATED: MONIQUE YOHANAN: Why FDA Was Right To Say No To COVID-19 Vaccines For Healthy Kids) A new study finds childhood peanut allergies have dropped 43% after updated guidelines encouraged early introduction of allergenic foods. @LaraSpencer breaks it down. pic.twitter.com/tIb3OisySe — Good Morning America (@GMA) October 20, 2025 The study tracked 125,000 children across nearly 50 pediatric practices. Hill said the allergy reduction corresponded to about 57,000 fewer children with food allergies. Current guidelines recommend introducing common food allergens to all infants between four and six months old. A pea-sized smear of peanut butter or small bite of scrambled eggs a couple times weekly can train an infant’s immune system, said Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a pediatrician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “We’re talking about the prevention of a potentially deadly, life-changing diagnosis,” Bracho-Sanchez said. Only 17 percent of caregivers reported giving infants peanuts before 7 months old in a 2021 survey.
