High Intake of Eggs, Peanuts in Pregnancy Does Not Lower Allergy Risk

TUESDAY, Sept. 22, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Ingestion of high amounts of egg and peanut during pregnancy and lactation does not result in lower risk for development of egg or peanut allergy among infants, according to a study published in the Sept. 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Debra J. Palmer, Ph.D., from the University of Western Australia in Nedlands, and colleagues conducted a multisite, randomized trial involving pregnant women whose unborn children had at least two biologic family members with medically diagnosed allergic disease. From before 23 weeks of gestation to four months postnatally during lactation, participants were randomly assigned to follow a diet high in eggs and peanuts that included at least six eggs and 60 peanuts per week (high egg-peanut group; 1,070 participants) or a standard (control) egg and peanut diet that included no more than three eggs and 30 peanuts per week (standard-diet group; 1,067 participants).

The researchers found that at age 1 year, the percentage of infants with immunoglobulin E-mediated egg or peanut allergy did not differ significantly between the maternal high egg-peanut group and the standard-diet group (7.8 versus 8.4 percent; relative risk, 0.93; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.69 to 1.26; P = 0.65). The groups had similar safety measures.

“Prevention of food allergy remains an early-life priority, but this trial suggests that the actionable window is not enlarged simply by increasing maternal intake of egg and peanut,” Maria C. Jenmalm, Ph.D., from Linköping University in Sweden, writes in an accompanying editorial.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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