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Peanuts for babies? Studies back allergy-preventing strategy

Two new studies bolster evidence that feeding babies peanuts or other allergy-inducing foods is more likely to protect them than to cause problems.

One suggests that the early prevention strategy leads to persistent, long-lasting results in children at risk for food allergies. It found that allergy protection lasted at least through age 5 and didn't wane even when kids stopped eating peanut-containing foods for a year.

The second new study suggests that the early prevention strategy could also work with eggs.

Both follow landmark research last year that has changed thinking on how to prevent kids' food allergies. It used to be thought that avoiding nuts and other allergenic foods in infancy was the best way.

This new research was published online in The New England Journal of Medicine.

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