Allergy prevention by exposure; how to help your children avoid peanut and other food allergies. The conventional wisdom is that we are just allergic and we need to stay away from foods that we are allergic to. As a parent, you are well aware of the dangers of certain food allergies. Certain allergies can cause a fatal anaphylactic reaction that closes up your throat, requiring the immediate use of an epi pen. What if there was a way to reduce or prevent the development of allergies such as peanut allergies? According to a new study cited in the NY Times, there is. Apparently, early exposure can prevent allergies if you feed infants those foods during their first year of life. In other words, exposure to more and varied foods can prevent food allergies. Check out the article here More Support for Early Exposure to Peanuts to Prevent Allergies By Andrew Pollack March 4, 2016 LOS ANGELES “” Evidence is accumulating that food allergies in children might be prevented by feeding peanuts and other allergenic food to infants in their first year of life, researchers reported here Friday. That finding would challenge the recommendation of the World Health Organization that babies be fed exclusively breast milk for the first six months of life. “œAt least as far as peanut is concerned, I would recommend parting from that,” Dr. Gideon Lack, professor of pediatric allergy at King”™s College London, said in an interview. Dr. Lack was the senior author of a study last year that found feeding peanuts to young children starting when they are 4 to 11 months old sharply reduced the risk of their developing peanut allergies. That upended the conventional wisdom that it is best to avoid introducing peanuts until children are older. Read more