When Should I Feed My Baby Peanut?

Current recommendations are to give it early in children without risk factors. ⁣ This means:⁣ 🔹After regular foods are introduced⁣ 🔹Around 4-6 months old⁣ ⁣ What are risk factors?⁣ 🔺Severe eczema⁣ 🔺History of egg allergy⁣. These patients are at higher risk of having peanut allergy and should be evaluated. Conversely, if testing in a valuation deems it safe, they are the ones who would benefit the most from early introduction.⁣ ⁣ These are just general guidelines, remember to always consult your doctor before any management.⁣ ⁣ Always remember to give it in a form that does not present a choking hazard - peanut puffs, powdered peanut butter, nut milks are all good choices.⁣

Food Allergies are Increasing

  • 1 in 13 children has food allergies.

    Food allergies have increased by 50% over the last 15 years. Why? There’s no clear answer for this. The Hygiene Hypothesis explains how allergies, in general, occur more in developed countries. The antibody for fighting of parasitic infections is the same one involved in allergies. With public health measures that prevent infectious diseases in developed countries, immune cells skew to start fighting allergens instead. Prior recommendations, which were only relatively recently changed, used to recommend waiting to introduce allergenic foods to children until after age 2. We now find that, without risk factors, it is better to introduce allergenic foods early - like around 6 months - after regular table food has been introduced. The delay in introduction for those years may contribute to the increase in allergies. There are likely many other factors, like environment, that we just don’t know about yet.

What's the Deal with Peanut Oil?

It’s a common misconception that people with peanut allergy cannot consume peanut oil. 

The truth is that there’s two different types of peanut oil. 


Highly refined peanut oil is used for cooking and is commonly used at many restaurants, most notably Chick-fil-A. Highly refined peanut oil is called this because it’s so refined that it does not actually contain any peanut protein and therefore does not have the peanut allergen that causes peanut reactions. 


On the other hand, unrefined peanut oil (which also can be called cold pressed peanut oil, gourmet peanut oil, or other names) does contain peanut protein and can cause allergic reactions.

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