Contrary to popular belief, women who eat nuts during pregnancy could reduce their children's risk of developing nut allergies.
A new study found children whose mothers consumed nut during pregnancy had a lower risk of being allergic, a Boston Children's Hospital news release reported.
"Our study showed increased peanut consumption by pregnant mothers who weren't nut allergic was associated with lower risk of peanut allergy in their offspring," says the study's senior author Michael Young, MD, of Boston Children's Division of Allergy and Immunology said in the news release. "Assuming she isn't allergic to peanuts, there's no reason for a woman to avoid peanuts during pregnancy."
In the past pregnant and nursing women have been advised by medical experts to avoid food items with high allergy rates, such as peanuts. It has also been advised that children under three years of age should avoid these common allergens; the recent study disputes this theory.
These recommendations had little backup in clinical studies, but were implemented in a effort to reduce the rate of childhood peanut allergies by eliminating " allergen exposure and sensitization."
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) endorsed this system in the year 2000, but since then the rate of peanut allergies in the U.S. have tripled. The recommendation was revoked in 2008 due to lack of evidence.
"No one can say for sure if the avoidance recommendation for peanuts was related to the rising number of peanut allergies seen in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but one thing is certain: it did not stop the increase," Young said. "It was clear that a new approach was needed, opening the door for new research."
A research team looked at the food records of 8,205 children; out of these subjects the researchers found 140 cases of "peanut or tree nut allergies."
The team compared the maternal dietary records of women whose children had developed nut allergies with those who had not.
The team found the rate of childhood peanut allergies was significantly lower in those whose mother's had eaten peanuts during pregnancy.
"The data are not strong enough to prove a cause-and-effect relationship. Therefore, we can't say with certainty that eating more peanuts during pregnancy will prevent peanut allergy in children. But we can say that peanut consumption during pregnancy doesn't cause peanut allergy in children," Young said. "By linking maternal peanut consumption to reduced allergy risk we are providing new data to support the hypothesis that early allergen exposure increases tolerance and reduces risk of childhood food allergy."
