Many people have a food allergy to things like eggs and peanuts. An allergy to peanuts can be deadly. However, researchers from Imperial College London say that feeding eggs and peanuts to babies may stop them getting allergies when they are older. The researchers looked at 146 different studies about when children first ate eggs and peanuts. The studies involved more than 200,000 children. The researchers found that if babies aged between 4-to-6 months old ate eggs, they were 40 per cent less likely to get an egg allergy than children who ate eggs later in life. Babies aged four-to-11 months old who ate things like peanut butter were 70 per cent less likely to develop an allergy to peanuts.
Researcher Robert Boyle said egg and peanut allergies were the two most common childhood food allergies. Dr Boyle advised parents to be careful when feeding babies eggs and nuts. He said babies should never have whole nuts because they might choke. They should also only have smooth and not crunchy peanut butter. Other common food allergies are to soy, wheat, sesame, fish and seafood. The researchers say giving these foods to babies one at a time before they become a year old may protect them from allergies. Parents should check their baby's health after each new food. They also say that more research should be done to find the best ages to start feeding eggs and peanuts to babies.
