The age of allergen introduction matters for both prevention and treatment.

Along with Professor Gideon Lack, we recently published on how age influences outcomes in allergy prevention and treatment.

The full manuscript is available in the NEJM; here are some take-home messages we wanted to communicate -

Prevention:

• Early introduction of peanut protein reduces the prevalence of peanut allergy by approximately 80%; this very strong effect even in this higher-risk population (i.e., infants with moderate to severe eczema and/or egg allergy).
  
• This is a time-sensitive intervention, delaying the dietary introduction of peanut protein significantly diminishes its preventative efficacy, the window of oppertunity closes by month (mostly in the first year of age).
  
• Effective prevention requires a weekly ingestion of approximately 2 g of peanut protein (one teaspoon of smooth peanut butter) for low-risk infants and 4 to 6 g for high-risk infants.
  
• Population-wide early introduction strategies reduce the overall disease burden more effectively than targeting only high-risk groups.
  

Treatment:

Starting peanut immunotherapy in younger children (aged 1 to 3 years) yields greater efficacy and higher clinical remission rates than in older children.

If interested in the topic, please do read the paper, or attend our London Allergy Consults Clinic for a full discussion around food allergy prevention and treatment options - https://www.londonallergyconsultants.co.uk/