Feeding babies egg and peanut may reduce their risk of developing an allergy to the foods, finds a new study.
In the research, which is the largest analysis of evidence on the effect of feeding allergenic foods to babies, scientists from Imperial College London analysed data from 146 studies. In total the studies involved more than 200,000 children.
The results suggest feeding children egg between the ages of four and six months may reduce their risk of developing egg allergy.
The study, which was commissioned by the UK Food Standards Agency, also found feeding children peanut, between the ages of four and eleven months, may reduce risk of developing peanut allergy.
In addition, the team analysed milk, fish (including shellfish), tree nuts (such as almonds) and wheat, but didn't find enough evidence to show introducing these foods at a young age reduces allergy risk.
The research is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Although previous studies have found feeding children peanut and egg may reduce allergy risk, other studies have found no effect.