The Real Allergy Stats
It's nerve-wracking to give your kid nuts for the first time--some parents
even wait until their kids are in preschool or later to introduce them to
tree nuts and peanuts (the latter are technically a legume, but they're
often lumped in with nuts). Still, 95 percent of kids aren't going to
develop a nut allergy no matter when nuts are introduced to them. One to 2
percent of kids will get it because they're genetically predisposed, and for
the remaining kids, feeding them nuts at an earlier age may even help stop
them from developing an allergy to begin with, says Robert Wood, M.D.,
director of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins Children's
Center, in Baltimore.
Nut News
Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) changed its policy of
avoiding ground nuts and foods containing nuts until age 3. Now the group
says that parents can offer them to babies 6 months and up, as long as they
aren't showing signs of other food allergies and don't have a family history
of nut allergies. Of course, whole nuts or spoonfuls of peanut butter are
still a choking hazard, so avoid them until age 4. But ground nuts or nut
butters baked into foods are super nutritious.
The Nuts and Bolts
Even knowing all the health benefits of nuts, it's still a little scary to
take the plunge. Try these tips for starters:
