There is exciting news on the allergy front this fall. Peanut allergies have dropped 43% in children since 2017. That means that over 40,000 children were able to avoid ever being diagnosed with a peanut allergy.

🥜 How was this possible?

Health care professionals changed their advice to parents about possible allergens. Whereas for many decades parents were told to avoid known allergens like eggs and peanuts as they began to feed their babies solid food, researchers began rethinking this approach as more and more children started to be diagnosed with significant allergies to these foods. In 2015, they reversed course of prevailing advice and began guiding parents to go with what has become known as “eat early, eat often.” Parents are now encouraged to include allergen foods in their babies’ diets at around 4 to 6 months old. 1

🥚Researchers think that so many children are able to avoid life-threatening reactions to allergens like eggs and peanuts under this protocol because they are being exposed to it early and within their own GI system, instead of being exposed to it later in the environment or through their skin. For many years, the recommendation had been to wait to give children these foods until they were three years old or older, but studies now show that this method has not worked. 2 When children are exposed to these foods earlier, through oral and intestinal pathways, their own immune systems then help them deal with any allergens within these foods.

Dr. David Hill, a researcher and allergist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says, “It doesn’t have to be a lot of the food, but little tastes of peanut butter, milk-based yogurt, soy-based yogurts and tree butters. These are really good ways to allow the immune system exposure to these allergenic foods in a safe way.” 3  

📈 This is particularly good news when you consider what peanut allergy statistics looked like in the years prior to the new recommendations of 2015. Peanut allergies more than tripled between 1997 to 2008. This spike was of significant concern to pediatricians and medical specialists because of the health issues and danger represented to kids. 4 But the original protocols put in place in the wake of this spike may have made the issue even more problematic, as children were exposed later and later to things like peanuts and eggs, with more intense reactions. It’s encouraging today to know that research shows that parents can help their children avoid these kinds of lifelong allergies by introducing these foods earlier.

💉 When it comes to other allergy advancements, researchers are encouraged by the latest studies on the drug omalizumab (Xolair). This was a medication originally developed for asthma, but researchers are learning that it is also helpful with food allergies as well, and is considered more effective than current medications on the market for food allergies.

💊 Immunotherapy continues to expand as well, helping a patient’s immune system ‘reset’ in its reaction to certain allergens. From medication that can be taken orally instead of injections to more personalized medication that works with a patient’s unique biology, these are exciting upgrades to those who deal with allergies on a regular basis. 

If you’re a Member of Altrua HealthShare and you’d like to talk with a health care professional about how some of these new developments might help you or someone in your family, you can go to your HealthWallet app and book a virtual appointment with a provider to learn more. If you’re not yet a Member of Altrua HealthShare but would like to learn more about what a health share model is, what features are available with Altrua HealthShare, and more, talk to a Member Services Representative at 1-888-244-3839.

1 https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-10-20/peanut-allergy-study#:~:text=The%20dramatic%20drop%20in%20childhood,allergy%2C%20according%20to%20the%20study.
2 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9268235/#:~:text=Both%20clinical%20observation%20and%20animal,see%20Table%201%20%5B2%5D.
3 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/advice-to-feed-babies-peanuts-early-and-often-helped-thousands-of-kids-avoid-allergies
4 https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2010/rate-of-childhood-peanut-allergies-more-than-tripled-between-1997-and-2008#:~:text=A%20nationwide%20telephone%20survey%20found%20that%20the,0.2%25%20in%201997%20to%201.1%25%20in%202008