Feeding young children peanuts can reduce their risk of an allergy.
Youngsters should be exposed to peanuts at an early age
Researchers say that youngsters who ate peanut pastes and puffed peanut snacks regularly during their infancy were 71 per cent less likely to have a peanut allergy by the time they became teenagers.
The rudimentary dietary intervention could reduce global cases of life-threatening allergies by 100,000 annually.
Scientists have theorised that safely exposing the immune system to small amounts of an allergen can educate the body not to cause a reaction to the foodstuffs.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, from the American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: "These findings should reinforce parents' confidence that feeding their young children peanut products can provide lasting protection from peanut allergy.
"If widely implemented, this simple strategy could prevent thousands of cases each year."
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