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<p>Feb. 23, 2015 -- Life-threatening peanut allergies have mysteriously been
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on the rise in the past decade, with little hope for a cure.</p>
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<p xmlns:xalan="http://xml.apache.org/xalan">But a groundbreaking new study may offer a way to stem that rise, while
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another may offer some hope for those who are already allergic.</p>
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<p>Parents have been told for years to avoid giving foods containing peanuts
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to babies for fear of triggering an allergy. Now research shows the opposite
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is true: Feeding babies snacks made with peanuts before their first birthday
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appears to prevent that from happening.</p>
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<p>The study is published in the <i>New England Journal of Medicine,</i> and
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it was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy,
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Asthma and Immunology in Houston. It found that among children at high
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risk for getting peanut allergies, eating peanut snacks by 11 months of
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age and continuing to eat them at least three times a week until age 5
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cut their chances of becoming allergic by more than 80% compared to kids
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who avoided peanuts. Those at high risk were already allergic to egg, they
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had the skin condition <a href="http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/eczema/default.htm"
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onclick="return sl(this,'','embd-lnk');" class="Article">eczema</a>, or
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both.</p>
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<p>Overall, about 3% of kids who ate peanut butter or peanut snacks before
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their first birthday got an allergy, compared to about 17% of kids who
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didn’t eat them.</p>
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<p>“I think this study is an astounding and groundbreaking study, really,”
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says Katie Allen, MD, PhD. She's the director of the Center for Food and
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Allergy Research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne,
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Australia. Allen was not involved in the research.</p>
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<p>Experts say the research should shift thinking about how kids develop
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<a
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href="http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/food-allergy-intolerances" onclick="return sl(this,'','embd-lnk');"
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class="Article">food allergies</a>, and it should change the guidance doctors give to
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parents.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, for children and adults who are already <a href="http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/nut-allergy"
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onclick="return sl(this,'','embd-lnk');" class="Article">allergic to peanuts</a>,
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another study presented at the same meeting held out hope of a treatment.</p>
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<p>A new skin patch called Viaskin allowed people with peanut allergies to
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eat tiny amounts of peanuts after they wore it for a year.</p><a name="1"> </a>
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<h3>A Change in Guidelines?</h3>
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<p>Allergies to peanuts and other foods are on the rise. In the U.S., more
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than 2% of people react to peanuts, a 400% increase since 1997. And reactions
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to peanuts and other tree nuts can be especially severe. Nuts are the main
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reason people get a life-threatening problem called <a href="http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/anaphylaxis"
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onclick="return sl(this,'','embd-lnk');" class="Article">anaphylaxis</a>.</p>
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