Slate Daily Feed Care & Feeding | From What Next: Is the Peanut Allergy Dead?
Nov 27, 2025
Dr. David Hill, a pediatrician and allergist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, shares groundbreaking insights on peanut allergies. He discusses how early exposure to allergens, particularly peanuts, could significantly reduce allergy rates—contradicting prior avoidance strategies. Hill highlights the success of the LEAP trial, explains parents' concerns, and reflects on the hesitancy in the medical community to adopt these new guidelines. With real-world evidence backing his claims, he presents a hopeful future for allergy prevention.
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Early Exposure Reduced Peanut Allergies
- Early peanut exposure appears to have driven a sharp drop in childhood peanut allergies in recent years.
- Dr. David Hill frames new data as evidence that the guideline pivot is starting to work at scale.
A Young Adult Still Suffering
- Dr. David Hill describes long-term patients living with persistent peanut allergy into adulthood.
- He recounts a patient in her 20s who still had severe reactions and frequent emergency care despite precautions.
Why Food Allergies Escalated
- Food allergy rates rose for decades and were labeled an epidemic over about 20 years.
- Hill links that rise partly to earlier guidance recommending allergen avoidance and to skin inflammation (eczema) as a risk factor.