A study 10 years ago turned a common practice on its head. Instead of waiting to introduce peanuts to young children in an effort to avoid developing food allergies, researchers said children as young as 4 months should be exposed to peanuts. Scientists said in doing so, about 60,000 children did not develop peanut allergies.

Before 2015, doctors said to delay food allergens such as peanuts and other items until a child was 3, The Associated Press reported. A publication called Learning Early About Peanut Allergy, released in 2015, found that by introducing potential allergens at an early age would reduce the future risk by 80%.

That study inspired the change of guidelines.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases officially recommended early introduction of potential allergens at an early age, The New York Times reported.

Dr. David Hill and a team published a new study that examined electronic health records of children before, during and after the new guidance was issued, the AP reported.

Hill said, “I can actually come to you today and say there are less kids with food allergy today than there would have been if we hadn’t implemented this public health effort.”

In children 0 to 3, they had 27% fewer cases in high risk children when the guidance was first issued in 2015. Within two years, the percentage of cases declined more than 40%, the AP reported.

“We’re talking about the prevention of a potentially deadly, life-changing diagnosis,” Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a pediatrician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, told the Times. “This is real world data of how a public health recommendation can change children’s health.” Bracho-Sanchez was not part of the study.

The study by Hill and the team only looked at the number of allergy cases, not what the children ate specifically, the Times reported.

Overall, however, not all medical providers adopted the guidance.

The AP reported that only 29% of pediatricians and 65% of allergists followed it.

Some people cited confusion on the best ways to introduce peanuts, including if peanuts can be given outside of a clinical setting.

Doctors noted that the newest study only looked at medical records of practices that adopted the new guidelines. It also only looked at children up to the age of 3, not older, the Times noted. Doctors said more research is needed.

Still, the study authors said, that the research offers “promising evidence that early allergen introduction is not only being adopted but may be making a measurable impact,” the AP reported.

The current guidance for introducing allergens was last updated in 2021 and says they should be introduced between four and six months of age without prior allergen testing.

Hill said they don’t have to be huge samples either.

“It doesn’t have to be a lot of the food, but little tastes of peanut butter, milk-based yogurt, soy-based yogurts and tree butters,” he said. “These are really good ways to allow the immune system exposure to these allergenic foods in a safe way.”

About 33 million people have food allergies in the U.S.

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