Food allergy is a chronic public health problem affecting as many as 8–10% of children with no present cure or treatment.
Associate Editor of Evidence-Based Medicine Joshua Fenton brings the subject to this podcast with Matthew Greenhawt (Section of Allergy and Immunology, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, USA) and Carina Venter (Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Cincinnatti Children's Hospital, Ohio, USA).
Dr Greenhawt and Dr Venter are the authors of a commentary on the paper “EAT Study Team. Randomized trial of introduction of allergenic foods in breast-fed infants”, published by The New England Journal of Medicine in 2016. The study suggests that early allergen introduction in standard risk, exclusively breastfed infants is associated with small possible benefits without evidence of harm.
The details of the EAT and the LEAP trials are discussed in this interview, which finishes with some important advice for parents.
“Having your cake and EATing it too: early timing of multiple allergen introduction does not increase the risk of developing food allergy in standard risk, breastfed infants” can be read at the EBM website: ebm.bmj.com/content/22/2/60.
