When a future mother presents a personal or family history of asthma, allergies or eczema among others, specialists recommend avoiding peanuts in the diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding. This recommendation is preventive so that the future baby does not develop any allergy, however, the recommendation in question seems to be followed even by future moms who do not present any allergy risk.
But Avoiding peanuts does not seem to prevent the child from developing an allergy, at least that's what a study by the Allergy Research Center on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom shows. In this study they took the dietary data of 858 future moms who were given a questionnaire about their eating habits. After two years, various allergic tests were performed on their children, specifically 660 children. The data revealed that 65% of the mothers had followed the recommendation not to take peanuts in their diet regardless of whether or not they presented atopy. An allergy test was performed on the 660 children and only 13 of them showed sensitivity to peanuts, and of these 13 children, 77% of their mothers had avoided peanuts in their diets.
It is quite clear, despite avoiding peanuts, these are not the real conditions for a child to have an allergy or not. What the experts advise, is the need for children to avoid eating peanuts at least until they reach three years of age provided there are allergic records in their family, it will be the best way to prevent them from developing peanut sensitivity .
It is necessary that the studies be corroborated by the entire scientific community, at the moment, it is better to follow medical recommendations about peanut intake. We have already known some cases where a study shows a conclusion and then another appears that denies the first, on these issues, the best is prudence and wait for more conclusive results.
You can access the study on the relationship between peanuts and allergy in the scientific publication Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.
