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JACI Highlights - November 2009
Peanut consumption during pregnancy and lactation protected offspring against peanut allergy
Until recently, the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) and the UK Government's Chief Medical Officer's Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment suggested that maternal dietary avoidance during pregnancy and lactation might reduce the incidence of peanut allergy. However, there are no conclusive data that maternal avoidance is protective, and the AAP guidelines have been revised. It has recently been suggested that introduction of small amounts of peanut early in life may prevent sensitization. In this issue, López-Expósito and colleagues report the first murine model of the effect of maternal peanut consumption on development of peanut allergy. They showed that offspring of peanut allergic mothers exhibited anaphylactic symptoms upon first peanut exposure. Feeding a small amount of peanut, together with an adjuvant, in a concentration that did not elicit clinical reactions in peanut allergic mothers during pregnancy and lactation prevented first exposure reactions. Offspring of peanut-fed mothers exhibited lower peanut-specific IgE levels than offspring of non–peanut-fed mothers in response to subsequent experimental peanut sensitization. Peanut-specific IgG2a levels, in contrast, were significantly higher. Strict avoidance of peanut and other food allergens during pregnancy and lactation might be counterproductive.
“Maternal peanut exposure during pregnancy and lactation reduces peanut allergy risk in offspring” by Li et al. (JACI November 2009 Volume 124 No. 5)
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