Study Finds Many Young Children Outgrow Peanut Allergy After Controlled Food Challenge
A peer-reviewed Australian study shows that about 35% of infants previously diagnosed with peanut allergy tolerated an oral food challenge, suggesting that retesting could reduce long-term allergy labels.
A new peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice reports that roughly one-third of Australian infants previously diagnosed with peanut allergy passed a supervised oral food challenge and were no longer allergic. The research involved 778 infants, around 13 months old, who had earlier shown reactions to peanuts and received a skin or blood test between seven and ten months of age. During the challenge, participants received gradually increasing doses of peanut butter over 90 minutes. Tim Brettig, a pediatric allergist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, said the proportion of children who passed was higher than expected and recommended that food challenges be used more widely to reassess peanut allergy diagnoses. About 12% of the children experienced anaphylaxis during the challenge, but all were treated promptly in a clinical setting, and no lasting harm was reported. The study’s findings align with earlier research indicating that early exposure to peanuts can promote tolerance, and they support recent U.S. guidelines encouraging early introduction of peanuts to infants. Experts such as Maria Garcia-Lloret of UCLA noted that the benefits of retesting appear to outweigh the risks, emphasizing potential cost savings for families and health systems if children are correctly delabeled. The authors suggest that broader use of controlled food challenges could further reduce the prevalence of peanut allergy and lessen the need for ongoing medical management.