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Food allergy is an important public health problem in Australia. Randomised controlled trials have provided evidence that introducing infants to peanut and egg early reduces the risk of developing allergies to these foods. The Australian Infant Feeding Summit was therefore held in 2015 to review infant feeding recommendations. Based on a consensus among expert stakeholders (state and federal health care agencies, consumers, and experts in allergy, infant feeding, and population health), and with the aim of providing clear guideline advice to the public while balancing the need for food allergy prevention and other nutritional priorities, including the known benefits of breastfeeding, three recommendations were made: to introduce solid foods at about six months (but not before four months) of age; to introduce peanut and egg during the first twelve months of life; and to no longer use hydrolysed infant formula for preventing allergy. These recommendations were incorporated into the infant feeding guidelines of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy in 2016.

This MJA research letter shares more.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain key components of the research letter
2. List main findings
3. Recognise possible reasons of food allergy in infants.

Details

Author: Jennifer Koplin, Victoria Soriano, Merryn Netting and Rachel Peters

Article Type: Research Letter