November 06, 2026
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Research about food allergies over the past 10 years has shifted to supporting the early introduction of peanuts.
Having a baby diagnosed with a peanut allergy can be unsettling for parents. It adds a whole set of worries and logistical concerns: making sure children are protected from exposure at school and birthday parties, and vetting Halloween candy content – not to mention forgoing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.
But a growing body of research has been indicating that babies should be exposed to peanuts early in life. And a new study even suggests that more than one-third of children end up outgrowing their initial peanut allergy diagnoses.
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Babies who are known to be allergic to peanuts should not be given any foods with peanut content, according to FARE, a national research and advocacy nonprofit also known as Food Allergy Research and Education. FARE's website also describes the evolution in research and scientific thinking about babies and early exposure to peanuts.
In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics began recommending that parents delay introducing peanuts to children until age 3 to try to prevent allergies or mitigate possible adverse effects. It has since rescinded those guidelines.
Following a landmark 2015 study and further research showing that early introduction of peanuts – regularly from infancy to age 5 – actually helped prevent the development of allergies, the National Institutes of Health now advises freely introducing peanuts to infants with no eczema or any food allergy. Even babies with egg allergy and eczema – both risk factors for peanut allergy – should be given peanuts as early as 4 to 6 months to help prevent the development of peanut allergy, the guidelines say.
An NIH-funded study published in 2024 found that early introduction of peanuts had reduced the rate of peanut allergy in adolescents by more than 70%. The new study, published Wednesday, suggests that an even larger number of children diagnosed with peanut allergy eventually outgrow it than previously understood.
It had been thought that somewhere between 10% and 20% of children with peanut allergy eventually lose the diagnosis. The new study, conducted at public hospitals in Australia, which has some of the highest reported rates of childhood food allergies in the world, found that about 35% of the babies eventually outgrew their peanut allergies.
Of the 1,275 babies under 18 months who had been diagnosed as having a peanut allergy based on medical history and initial testing, 35% ended up having no reaction during oral food challenges. The challenges involved giving 778 of the babies increasing amounts of peanuts under medical supervision. Of that group, 65% had reactions and 12% had potentially life-threatening reactions – all safely managed.
"We thought some would pass the food challenges and not react, but we didn't expect this many children to get through," Tim Brettig, a pediatric allergist and immunologist who helped lead the study, told the Washington Post.
The study's findings support the increased use of food challenges in allergy assessment and the retesting of children who have been diagnosed with peanut allergy before undergoing treatment, Brettig added.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia offers more information about peanut allergy and treatment on its website.
