Introduce babies to a wide variety of foods in their first year, even allergenic foods, to help prevent allergies developing. That’s the take-home message experts want parents to absorb from new infant feeding guidelines from the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy.
“Parents have returned to what they used to do 50 years ago. For instance, we have strong evidence that 80% of parents delayed the introduction of peanuts to beyond 12 months before but we now know that has dropped dramatically to 10%.”
“Introducing a wide variety of foods in the first year of life is the most important factor likely to prevent allergies,” Professor Allen told InSight+.