Research question: What awareness is there of early allergen introduction advice, is it being followed and is it preventing food allergy?
This research will address how parents have adhered to new guidance about early introduction of food allergens; what awareness is there and is it being followed. We’ll also explore if the new guidance is preventing or decreasing food allergy.
Food allergy affects 5% of children in the UK (Bartha et al.). Top common food allergens are wheat, eggs, fish, cow’s milk, peanuts and tree nuts (Top 14 Food Allergens | Allergy UK | National Charity). Increase in food allergy prevalence has been driven by environmental factors, as well as genetic susceptibility and a key to reducing the increase in prevalence is prevention.
Until 2016, clinical practice guidelines recommended delaying the introduction of food allergens, such as peanut, until 3 years of age. We now know that these guidelines may have contributed to, rather than prevented, the development of food allergies in children. In 2016/7 the guidance on when to introduce common allergens was changed from avoiding or delaying until age 3 to introducing them as soon as 6 months of age.
We don’t know yet the consequences of this change in guidance. To find out more or register your interest to get involved, follow this link.
October 2024 Update
We have Established a collaboration with the Government Department of Health & Social Care, to follow-up on their national Infant Feeding Survey. More than 20,000 mothers were sent questionnaires to understand more about how mothers in England feed their babies and the survey includes questions about early introduction of peanuts, cow’s milk, fish, eggs and mixed nuts. The government-lead survey is now coming to an end (babies are 8-10 months old), and we plan to follow-up, as many mothers and babies as possible, with two more questionnaires up until the babies are 2 years of age.
This will allow us to ascertain any impact (either positive or negative) of the UK government change of advice on the prevalence of food allergy in British children. We will keep you posted…