Women need not be worried about snacking on peanuts and nuts during pregnancy, as Science Daily reports that doing so will not cause their babies to be allergic to them.
Senior author Michael Young of Boston Children's Division of Allergy and Immunology and his team of experts looked into the medical history of 8,205 children, 140 of whom were positive for peanut or tree nut allergies. By comparing the diets of their mothers during pregnancy with those of the children who did not have any nut-related allergies, they found that mothers who ate nuts during pregnancy were less likely to have children with peanut allergies.
“We can’t say with certainty that eating more peanuts during pregnancy will prevent peanut allergy in children, but we can say that peanut consumption during pregnancy doesn’t cause peanut allergy in children,” says Young.
“By linking maternal peanut consumption to reduced allergy risk, we are providing new data to support the hypothesis that early allergen exposure increases tolerance and reduces risk of childhood food allergy."
(Photo by Daniella Segura via Flickr Creative Commons)
