Groundbreaking results of the first randomized clinical trial to prevent food allergy in a large group of high-risk infants were presented today at the annual scientific meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) in Houston. Published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, researchers led by Gideon Lack, M.D., of Kings College London, found that sustained consumption of a peanut-containing snack by babies at high risk for developing peanut allergy prevented them from developing peanut allergy. Peanut consumption achieved an 86 percent reduction in peanut allergy at age 5 among children who had negative skin prick tests to peanut at study entry, and a 70 percent reduction in peanut allergy among those who were sensitized to peanut (positive skin prick test) at the beginning of the study.
The Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP) study was funded by Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. It was designed and conducted by the Immune Tolerance Network, a collaborative network of clinical researchers sponsored by NIAID. Read more about these critically important findings in our press release, and stay tuned to our blog for additional research updates from the AAAAI meeting.