For decades, peanut allergies have been a source of anxiety for parents, schools, and anyone who ever packed a lunchbox. The mere presence of peanuts in cafeterias and airplanes once sparked alarm, leading to widespread bans and peanut-free tables. But a wave of new research and evolving pediatric guidelines are now rewriting that story. According to recent studies, rates of peanut allergy among young children in the United States are experiencing a significant and measurable decline—a development that could reshape how families and institutions approach one of the most common and feared food allergies.
The turning point came in 2015, when a groundbreaking study known as the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP) trial turned conventional wisdom on its head. For years, parents were told to avoid giving peanut products to infants, hoping to stave off allergies. But the LEAP trial found just the opposite: introducing peanut-containing foods to babies as young as four to six months old dramatically reduced their chances of developing a peanut allergy. In fact, the trial showed that early introduction cut the risk by more than 80%—a staggering number that caught the attention of health authorities and pediatricians nationwide, as reported by USA TODAY and NPR.
Spurred by these findings, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued new guidance in 2017, officially recommending that parents introduce peanut products to infants when they are ready to eat solids, typically around four to six months of age. This marked a major reversal from previous advice and set the stage for a real-world experiment in allergy prevention across the country.
Now, the results of that experiment are coming in. A new study published on October 20, 2025, in the journal Pediatrics provides the first strong, real-world evidence that these early introduction guidelines are working. Researchers, led by Dr. David Hill, an allergist and immunologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, analyzed electronic health records from more than 120,000 children under the age of three. Their findings are striking: peanut allergy rates among young children dropped from 0.79% in the years 2012 to 2015 to 0.45% between 2017 and 2020—a 43% decrease. Overall food allergies, including those to peanuts, fell by 36% during the same period.
"This study provides the first strong, real-world evidence that early food introduction guidelines are working," said Dr. Hill in a statement to USA TODAY. "Parents should feel reassured that early introduction of peanut and other allergenic foods, starting around 4 to 6 months of age, is both safe and effective in preventing food allergy."
The numbers are more than just statistics—they represent tens of thousands of children who may have been spared the burden of a lifelong peanut allergy. Dr. Hill estimates that the changed guidelines have prevented peanut allergies in at least 40,000 children in the last decade, as cited by NPR. That’s a remarkable shift for a condition that, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, had quadrupled in prevalence among U.S. children from 0.4% in 1997 to over 2% by 2010.
The story of how the LEAP trial came to be is itself a lesson in scientific curiosity. Researchers noticed a puzzling difference: peanut allergies were ten times more common among Jewish children in the United Kingdom than among Israeli children with similar ancestry. The key difference? Israeli parents routinely fed their infants a peanut-based snack called Bamba, while British and American parents strictly avoided peanuts in infancy. This observation led to the LEAP trial, which ultimately helped flip the script on peanut allergy prevention.
With the revised recommendations in place, pediatricians now encourage parents—especially those with infants at high risk for food allergies—to introduce peanut-containing foods as early as four to six months. The guidance is echoed in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
But even as the data points to progress, experts urge caution and continued study. The recent research relies on diagnostic codes from electronic health records, which may not perfectly reflect actual allergy rates. The studies also could not capture detailed information about how families are introducing peanuts—what forms they use, how much and how often, or whether early introduction is sustained over time. "We still need to understand how families are introducing these foods, what forms they use, how much and how often they feed them, and whether early introduction is being sustained over time," Dr. Hill explained to USA TODAY. "The study couldn’t capture those details from electronic records."
Socioeconomic factors add another layer of complexity. Not all families have the same access to specialized, infant-safe peanut products, and educational materials may not always be available in every parent’s preferred language. Dr. Hill emphasizes the need for broader public health messaging, suggesting that outreach through primary care providers, WIC programs, and community organizations could help close these gaps. "Expanding public health messaging through primary care, WIC programs, and community outreach could help close these gaps and ensure every parent receives accurate, practical information," Hill said.
Other experts, like Dr. Corinne Keet, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, urge some caution in interpreting the results. She notes that families may not always follow the new guidelines out of fear—especially if there are siblings or parents with peanut allergies at home. "I'm a little bit surprised by these findings because I might have expected that we might have more diagnoses just because people were thinking about allergies more" in the past decade, Dr. Keet told NPR. She also points out the challenges of conducting high-quality studies on food allergy prevalence.
Still, the impact of the new approach is hard to ignore. The LEAP trial’s influence, the change in national guidelines, and the observed drop in allergy rates all suggest that early and regular introduction of allergenic foods—including peanuts—offers real protection. Delaying the introduction, on the other hand, appears to increase risk. "The key message is that delaying allergenic foods increases risk, while introducing them early and regularly offers protection," Dr. Hill told USA TODAY. "This study shows that when families and clinicians follow these guidelines, we can make meaningful progress in reducing childhood food allergies across the country."
It’s important to remember that peanut allergies, once developed, are highly persistent—only about 10% of children outgrow them, according to Dr. Hill’s research. That makes prevention all the more valuable, both for individual families and for public health at large.
As more families and clinicians embrace the new guidance, and as researchers continue to study the long-term effects—including the impact of the 2021 updated LEAP guidance recommending early introduction of multiple allergens—there’s real hope that the era of peanut-free tables and anxious lunch-packing may be coming to an end. For now, the evidence suggests that a simple shift in timing could make all the difference for the next generation.
