WINNIPEG A new study has found a way to potentially reduce the risk of children developing a peanut allergy. The study, led by researchers from the University of Manitoba as well as McMaster University looked at how a baby s sensitivity to peanuts was affected if the mother was eating peanuts while breastfeeding, and also introducing peanut products to babies before they were a year old. Dr. Meghan Azad, who is an associate professor at the U of M and is also with the Children s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, is the lead researcher on this study and said the theory is called the triple exposure hypothesis.
TORONTO A new study suggests that ‘triple exposure’ to peanuts in newborn babies may reduce the risk of developing a peanut allergy later in life. Researchers at the University of Manitoba and McMaster University – published last week in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease found that mothers who eat peanuts while breastfeeding and introduce peanuts to their babies before the age of 12 months reduce the risk of a peanut sensitivity developing in their child within the next four years by 88 per cent. “If a mom breastfed, ate peanuts herself andintroduced it early to her child, the combined effect of all three exposures seemed to offer an enhanced protection against peanut sensitization and future allergy risk.” Dr. Meghan Azad, a senior author of the study and an associate professor and Canada research chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease at the University of Manitoba, said in a news release.