Parents Cautious With Eggs and Nuts in Infant Diet
Although parents introduced most highly allergenic foods, along with other solid foods, to infants, many held off giving eggs and nuts until their child was at least a year old. Infants with a family history of allergy were more likely to have restricted diets, with certain foods avoided altogether.
METHODOLOGY:
Researchers analyzed data from a UK birth cohort study to determine whether the time of introduction and type of foods introduced differed between infants with and without a family history of allergy.
Between May 21, 2015, and July 24, 2017, the researchers recruited 390 pregnant women (mean maternal age, 31 years), with 392 live births subsequently.
Parents reported data on a family history of allergy and infant diet antenatally, at birth, and when the baby was around 6, 12, and 24 months old.
TAKEAWAY:
Most highly allergenic foods were introduced to infants aged 6-9 months, with wheat being the first allergenic food introduced; by the age of 9 months, 97% of infants had been exposed to wheat.
The introduction of eggs and nuts was notably delayed, with 21% of infants not exposed to eggs and 35% not exposed to nuts by the age of around 12 months.
No difference was observed in the age of introduction of solid foods between infants with and without any family history of any allergy.
Infants with a family history of allergy were more likely to have diets that avoided specific foods, particularly dairy, soy, eggs, and nuts compared with those without a family history of that allergy.
IN PRACTICE:
'Different diets or delayed introduction of allergenic foods in high-risk infants might affect the development of allergies in infants and could be a modifiable risk factor for allergy development,' the authors wrote.
SOURCE:
Suzannah Helps, PhD, with the University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, England, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on April 30 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
LIMITATIONS:
This study relied on parental report measures, and methods of data collection varied between waves of data collection, affecting consistency.
DISCLOSURES:
This study was funded by the University of Portsmouth. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.
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