Ding Ma has ever done a < < Does your baby have food allergy symptoms? > > According to the survey, nearly 1,500 voters took part, and more than 65% of the parents who took part in the voting definitely said that their children had, of which more than 35% were clearly diagnosed by doctors.
This shows that the incidence of food allergy is very common among children, especially among infants under one year old.
Although most children’s food allergy is not serious, due to some wrong ideas and treatment methods, such as quitting this kind of food as soon as they suspect allergy, children may lose the opportunity to contact more abundant food and affect their normal growth and development.
Food allergies are too common in children
Food allergy is a common infant feeding problem both at home and abroad.
Data show that the prevalence rate of food allergy among children in developed countries is about 3% ~ 6%. Moreover, the incidence rate around the world is still on the rise in recent years. For example, the prevalence rate of food allergy among children in the United States has increased by 18% in the past ten years, and the prevalence rate of food allergy among children in China may also continue to rise.
Moreover, because the manifestations of food allergy are quite diverse, such as skin pruritus, rash, diarrhea, constipation, oral ulcer, cough, etc., these symptoms are not special in what, so they are easily ignored by parents.
When children show these manifestations, they are likely to be mistaken for other diseases or even ignored.
Therefore, the actual number of children’s food allergy prevalence in China may be more.
Is the traditional view wrong?
The traditional idea is that early exposure to allergic foods will lead to an increased incidence of food allergy.
Therefore, pediatricians have been teaching patients that infants should avoid early contact with these allergic foods, such as peanuts, milk products (non-fresh milk), eggs, fish and shrimp, etc., and add these allergic foods as late as possible.
The good wish for this is that after children’s immune function gradually develops and matures, they can easily cope with these allergic foods and add them again, so that allergic reactions will not easily occur.
But is this really right?
Subversive Conclusions Published in Authoritative Medical Journals
In fact, whether this is correct has always been controversial.
Until February 2015, the New England Journal of Medicine, an authoritative international medical journal, published a clinical study, completely overturning our theoretical view of supplementing supplementary foods for children, which has lasted for decades.
This study, called LEAP (the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy), selected 640 children of April to November, and infants with allergic constitution with severe eczema and egg allergy, and divided them into early peanut supplement group and avoidance peanut supplement group, which were observed to be 60 months old.
The results showed that by the age of 5, only 1.9% of the children who ate peanuts at the early stage still had allergy to peanuts, which was significantly lower than that of the children who avoided peanuts at the early stage (13.7%). However, the incidence of severe allergy events did not differ during the whole observation process.
Therefore, the conclusion of this study is that the early introduction of peanut supplementary food can significantly reduce the incidence of peanut allergy in childhood and regulate the body’s immune response to peanuts.
After 2016, EAT (Enquiring about Tolerance) clinical trials, also published in the New England Journal, also confirmed that early addition of other allergic foods (such as milk, eggs, fish and shrimp, etc.) is a protective factor for food allergy diseases. If the addition of these foods is delayed, it may lead to higher susceptibility to food allergy.
To sum up, it is no good to postpone it.
Don’t delay adding allergic foods any more.
For a long time, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Canadian Academy of Pediatrics and other institutions have advocated that babies usually introduce solid food after the age of 6 months, which is what parents often call supplementary food.
The latest research mentioned above proves that, For high-risk children with food allergy (such as children with a history of severe eczema in the early stage or children with allergic diseases in their elders), solid foods (including highly sensitized foods such as eggs, milk protein, fish, peanuts, etc.) should be added in time, just like other babies, instead of postponing the addition as the traditional view says.
Delaying the addition is not conducive to inducing the baby to adapt to these foods, resulting in a higher incidence of food allergy in the later period.
This view has reached a consensus in relevant international expert groups and is reflected in some relevant guidelines to guide the addition of supplementary foods to children at high risk of food allergy.
Based on the latest evidence-based evidence, the recommendations for children who may be at risk of food allergy are:
1. Add solid foods in time (4-6 months), including highly sensitized foods (such as milk protein, peanuts, eggs, fish and shrimp, etc.), instead of delaying the addition of these foods as previously suggested.
2. For children with severe eczema, egg allergy and family history of allergy, early addition is still recommended.
However,It is necessary to formulate a reasonable addition plan and follow-up plan under the advice of children’s allergy professional doctors or pediatricians with experience in allergy diagnosis and treatment, instead of trying casually. Only in this way can the risk of inducing severe allergy be reduced as much as possible and the incidence of long-term allergy be reduced.
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