{"id":243485,"date":"2025-10-22T12:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/243485\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:22:07","slug":"peanut-exposure-is-good-for-children-and-doctors-were-the-last-to-realize-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/243485\/","title":{"rendered":"Peanut exposure is good for children, and doctors were the last to realize it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGod made dirt and dirt don\u2019t hurt.\u201d I heard this old adage a lot in my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">childhood<\/a>, usually from my Pa, who would take us shooting, take us fishing, and make us weed his gorgeous garden. What is a little dirt and sunshine to a child except slow exposure to potentially harmful things that, in moderation, are totally fine?<\/p>\n<p>Sounds a little bit like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/vaccines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">vaccines<\/a> to me. They are a lot like my late grandfather\u2019s take on dirt: A little bit doesn\u2019t hurt you and might just make you stronger.\u00a0But the same people who have been telling us for years that exposing an infant to up to six vaccines at once is totally fine have also warned that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3315567\/daily-dose-peanut-butter-could-curb-allergies-nih-clinical-trial-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">peanuts<\/a> are most certainly not. I\u2019m here to tell you it\u2019s okay to eat the peanuts. And science is finally catching up.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3819271\/trump-takes-aim-childhood-vaccines-press-tylenol-autism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">TRUMP TAKES AIM AT CHILDHOOD VACCINES IN PRESS EVENT ON TYLENOL AND AUTISM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Without using any statistical evidence, for decades, the medical community put the fear of God in pregnant mothers that if they ate peanuts in any form while pregnant, their baby would develop a severe allergy to them. I once had a friend whose OBGYN told her not to even eat Reese\u2019s peanut butter cups when pregnant. We\u2019re now learning it\u2019s okay. And not only is it okay, but it could be good for infants, too.<\/p>\n<p>When a mother has nuts while pregnant, babies are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-024-51488-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">more likely<\/a> to tolerate those foods themselves. The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/05\/07\/well\/eat\/eating-nuts-during-pregnancy-tied-to-brain-benefits-in-baby.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">reported<\/a> six years ago that eating nuts while pregnant could increase a child\u2019s IQ. Plus, nuts are a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/nutrition\/8-benefits-of-nuts#:~:text=The%20Bottom%20Line.%20Eating%20nuts%20on%20a,loss%20%E2%80%94%20despite%20its%20high%20calorie%20count.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">nutrient-<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/nutrition\/8-benefits-of-nuts#:~:text=The%20Bottom%20Line.%20Eating%20nuts%20on%20a,loss%20%E2%80%94%20despite%20its%20high%20calorie%20count.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dense<\/a> source of fiber, magnesium, and other great vitamins required to help pregnant mothers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For a decade, allergies in U.S. children shot up because of the anti-scientific doctrine the American Academy of Pediatrics was pushing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/19\/opinion\/medicine-allergies-research.html#:~:text=You%20probably%20know%20about%20the,Academy%20of%20Pediatrics%20in%202000.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">advising<\/a> \u201cpregnant and lactating women to avoid eating peanuts and parents to avoid feeding them to children under 3,\u201d as New York Times opinion columnist Pamela Paul explained.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2024\/10\/excerpt-from-blind-spots-by-marty-makary\/#:~:text=When%20the%20AAP%20guideline%20came,they%20did,%20it%20was%20mild.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Some doctors<\/a> bravely pushed back, noting it \u201cviolated a basic principle of immunology known as immune tolerance: the body\u2019s natural way of accepting foreign molecules present early in life. It was like the dirt theory, whereby newborns exposed to dirt, dander, and germs may then have lower allergy and asthma risks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The guidance was updated, and now we have the results.<\/p>\n<p>As Gabrielle M. Etzel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3856886\/peanut-allergies-plunge-guidance-reversal-infant-exposure-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">reported<\/a> for the Washington Examiner, \u201cPeanut allergies\u00a0have dropped significantly in children within only a few years of the National Institutes of Health updating its guidance to say that exposing infants to peanuts can decrease\u00a0allergy risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let the record show my grandpa was right. He\u2019s likely smiling down from heaven saying, \u201cI told you so,\u201d right now.\u00a0A pregnant woman is perfectly fine to eat some peanuts. And we finally have proof that your baby is okay to eat peanut products too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResearchers found that peanut allergies in children ages 0 to 3 declined by more than 27% after guidance for high-risk kids was first issued in 2015 and by more than 40% after the recommendations were expanded in 2017,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/amp\/post\/advice-feed-babies-peanuts-early-often-helped-60000-kids-avoid-allergies-study-finds\/18043290\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">per<\/a> the Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3851263\/rfk-jr-maha-food-regulations-bipartisan-appeal-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">RFK JR. MAHA FOOD REGULATIONS HAVE BIPARTISAN APPEAL, NEW POLL FINDS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But the AAP and other medical groups don\u2019t like to be told they are wrong, and they rarely issue an apology when they are. The AAP is also wrong on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/article\/is-the-aap-placing-its-own-members-at-risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u201cgender-affirming care,\u201d<\/a> and it made a complete <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebump.com\/news\/aap-changed-guidelines-for-baby-screen-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">about-face<\/a> when it changed its rule on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aap.org\/en\/patient-care\/media-and-children\/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health\/qa-portal\/qa-portal-library\/qa-portal-library-questions\/screen-time-guidelines\/?srsltid=AfmBOoqYnNXr36XfW92fH7oA6F2zqC21t5m7DBfSrnjckFoiIcKXWaXY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">screens<\/a> not due to scientific data, but to cultural change and public consumption of media on mobile devices.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time for women to go back to informed consent, trusting their gut, and questioning their doctors as they see fit.<\/p>\n<p>Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator and speaker who resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their four children. She is an advocate for women\u2019s rights, school choice, and smaller government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cGod made dirt and dirt don\u2019t hurt.\u201d I heard this old adage a lot in my childhood, usually&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[151,299,97,269,1767,11282,10650],"class_list":{"0":"post-243485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-food","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-opinion","13":"tag-pregnancy","14":"tag-vaccines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}