Peanut Allergies May Be on the Rise

More children appear to be developing peanut allergies, a new study found.

In fact, the prevalence of childhood peanut allergies appears to have increased by 21 percent since 2010, according to this research. The authors of this study estimated that around 2.5 percent of children in the United States may have a peanut allergy.

These findings come several months after new guidelines on how to safely introduce peanuts to infants' diets were released.

"Peanut allergies, along with other food allergies, are very challenging for children and families," said lead study author Dr. Ruchi Gupta, of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, in a press release. "While 21 percent represents a large increase in the number of kids with a likely peanut allergy, the good news is that parents now have a way to potentially prevent peanut allergy by introducing peanut products to infants early after assessing risk with their pediatrician and allergist."

The authors of this new study surveyed more than 53,000 families. They found that childhood peanut, tree nut, sesame and fin fish allergies were becoming more common. These researchers noted that these allergies appeared to be more common in black children.

Food allergies can be life-threatening, so always check with your child's pediatrician before introducing a new food into your child's diet.

This study was published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Aimmune Therapeutics and the Stanford Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research funded this study. Information on potential conflicts of interest was not available at the time of publication.