Food allergies are a growing concern for many families, with an estimated 8% of children and 2% of adults in the United States affected by this condition. It is predicted that there will higher rates of food allergies in the future. Even Asian countries are not spared! There are increasing cases of food allergy even in developing countries in Asia including Malaysia. While science is discovering ways to prevent food allergy, we are still far from perfection. However, one clear signal shows that early food introduction is a practical approach for reducing the risk of developing food allergies in young children.
What is Early Food Introduction?
Early food introduction refers to the practice of introducing a wide variety of foods to babies and young children, including allergenic foods, starting from the age of 4-6 months. This approach is in contrast to the previous recommendations to delay the introduction of allergenic foods, such as peanuts, eggs, and cow’s milk, until a child is at least 2 years old.
The Benefits of Early Food Introduction
Studies have shown that early and frequent exposure to allergenic foods can help to prevent the development of food allergies in young children. For example, one large study called LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut allergy), found that the risk of developing peanut allergy was reduced by up to 86% in infants who were introduced to peanuts before the age of 6 months and continued to consume peanuts regularly. Follow up studies from LEAP revealed that the prevention is indeed long lasting.
The EAT study (Enquiring About Tolerance) was a randomized trial of the early introduction of allergenic solids into the infant diet from 3 months of age. The study was not ideal as adherences to the early introduction protocol in the per-protocol analysis, the rate of the primary outcome was significantly lower in the early-introduction group than in the standard introduction group (2.4% [5 of 208 participants] vs. 7.3% [38 of 524]). The relative risk in the early-introduction group was 0.33 (95% CI, 0.13 to 0.83; P = 0.01), representing a prevalence that was 67% lower than that in the standard-introduction group.
Multiple Food Allergen Introduction
We should consider learning from traditional food introduction practices where infants were fed table food of whatever food that was prepared and eaten by the family at that time which would include allergenic foods such as dairy, fish, soy, eggs, cereals, nuts all at once. A study looked into mimicking this practice by using a premade multi-food allergen sachet and studying it for its efficacy in food allergy prevention. The study demonstrated that infants at either high or low risk for atopy were able to tolerate the early introduction of multiple allergenic foods with no safety issues. Those individuals fed with the multiple food allergen mixtures demonstrated better efficacy in food allergy prevention.
As an Allergist/Immunologist, I am quite excited about these multiple allergenic food mixtures and I feel that it can offer a food allergy prevention strategy that is convenient for busy parents. A product that I have been utilizing is called SEMUA (Safe Effective Method Utilizing Aliment) I recommend a introduction schedule as follows:
You should start introducing SEMUA when your baby is around 4-6 months old and shows interest in eating and is ready to start complementary solid foods. First start by sprinkling a small amount of SEMUA onto the complementary food such as fruit puree, mashed potato, rice porridge. As your baby tolerates the food, you can gradually increase the amount until a whole sachet is consumed.
A general schedule is as follows:
Sprinkle small amount daily onto foods X 1 week
1/2 teaspoon amount daily onto foods X 1 week
1 teaspoon onto foods daily X 1 week
1 sachet daily
It is important to understand that early introduction of allergenic foods is to PREVENT allergy, once a person has developed food allergy you should see a qualified Allergist/Immunologist to get proper evaluation and a treatment plan.
Food allergy has been shown to be caused by avoidance of food introduction. One of the key barriers is likely caused by fear, to overcome this fear, click here: Fear of introduction of Foods to Prevent Food Allergy
