7 September 2017 - As the science governing allergies and diets continues to evolve, so do expert recommendations around how best to safely introduce babies and children to various foods. 

Perhaps one of the most challenging decisions for parents of my generation is when and how to introduce foods that pose a potential for a significant allergic reaction. These decisions are made more difficult as the prevalence of certain food allergies appear to be on the rise. Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies. It’s also one of the most dangerous. Peanut allergy is the leading cause of death related to food-induced anaphylaxis in the United States. 

For these reasons, it’s rightly a cause of significant concern among new parents. The majority of individuals who are allergic to peanuts developed the allergy early in life and never outgrew it. You would be hard pressed to find a parent who doesn’t know a child who suffers from a serious peanut allergy. Even if our own children don’t have a peanut allergy, most of us have friends or relatives whose children do. That’s not surprising, given that the prevalence of peanut allergy has more than doubled in children from 1997 to 2008 alone. Today, about 2% of American children are allergic to peanuts.

Read FDA statement