Food allergy and gastrointestinal diseaseEarlier ingestion of peanut after changes to infant feeding guidelines: The EarlyNuts study
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Section snippets
Design
The EarlyNuts study is a population-based, cross-sectional, observational study that aims to measure the prevalence of food allergy, document current practices around dietary introduction of allergenic foods, and evaluate whether changes to infant feeding practices at the population level have reduced the population prevalence of food allergy. We have used the same sampling frame structure and methods of recruitment and follow-up as the HealthNuts study in 2007-2011 to facilitate comparison
EarlyNuts sample characteristics
Baseline demographic characteristics of the participants are reported and compared with data from the HealthNuts study (2007-2011) and the population of live births in Victoria in 2016 (Table I). The proportion of EarlyNuts participants with a family history of asthma, eczema, and food allergy was similar to that observed in the HealthNuts study. Our sample had a lower proportion of mothers born in Australia compared with the HealthNuts study. This is consistent with changes that occurred in
Discussion
This is the first evaluation of infant feeding practices after the adoption of changes in feeding guidelines internationally in 2016 recommending early introduction of a range of allergenic foods.7, 12 We report that there has been a dramatic shift toward earlier introduction of peanut and egg in 2018 after guideline changes compared with a similar sample in 2007-2011. In 2018, the vast majority of parents had introduced peanut and egg in the first year of life, with both foods most commonly
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This work was supported by funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. Research at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Program. V.X.S. is supported by a PhD scholarship from the NHMRC-funded Centre for Food and Allergy Research (CFAR).
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: K. P. Perrett’s institution, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, has received a research grant from DBV Technologies. K. J. Allen was on the medical advisory board for Before Brands and Aravax. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.
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Former affiliations when this work was undertaken. No current affiliations.