Early introduction of food reduces food allergy - Pro and Con.

Over the past two decades, we have been debating the question of whether the age of commencement of complementary feeding affects the risk of developing food allergy. We ate up the notion that delayed introduction of more allergenic foods in early childhood would help overcome the increasing rates of food allergy, and then, we promptly spat it out again despite limited evidence. Recently, high-quality randomized controlled trial evidence has given us the confidence to swallow the concept that allergenic foods, such as egg and peanut, should be given to infants. We now need to recommend that when an infant is developmentally ready, a variety of nutritious foods should be introduced to ensure high diet diversity, including the ‘more allergenic’ foods during infancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]