Children were less likely to have egg allergies after health experts recommended introducing eggs earlier in life, according to a study published June 8.
Compared with 9.2 percent of children prior to the recommendation, just 7.6 percent of kids were allergic to eggs, researchers in Australia said in the study, which was published by JAMA Pediatrics.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to show a reduction in egg allergy after the introduction of new infant feeding guidelines at a population level,” Jennifer Koplin, principal research fellow at The University of Queensland’s Child Health Research Centre, and one of the authors, said in a statement.
The study involved analyzing the prevalence of egg allergy in 5,276 children aged 11 to 15 months from 2007 to 2011, prior to the recommendation update, and in 1,933 children within the same age range in 2018 and 2019, after the recommendation. The children all reside in Australia.
Of the children tested from 2007 to 2011, 9.2 percent had egg allergy. Of the children tested later, 8.3 percent were allergic to eggs. After adjustments to standardize the cohorts, the egg allergy prevalence among the children tested later was 7.6 percent.
Egg allergy was defined as a severe allergic reaction to egg since birth, or a reaction to an oral food challenge.
More young children were enrolled in the research, but some were excluded due to reasons such as required skin prick tests.
Researchers found that among the children born earlier, only a quarter started eating eggs at or before six months of age, compared with 57 percent among the children born later.
Only 11 percent of the children born later had not eaten eggs by age 10 months, compared with 35 percent of the earlier cohort.
Health guidelines in Australia in the 1990s and 2000s advised parents to avoid introducing allergenic foods, such as eggs, until children were at least 1 year old. Australian medical practitioners updated the guidelines in 2016 to recommend introducing the allergens in the first year of life.
A meta-analysis of five randomized clinical trials previously concluded that children who ate eggs by six months of age were less likely to develop egg allergy.
“We hope these findings provide reassurance to parents to continue following the current recommendations,” Koplin said.
Other papers have indicated that earlier introduction of allergens leads to fewer allergies, including a 2025 paper from U.S. researchers.
Limitations of the new paper included the lack of prospective recording of the age at which eggs were introduced.
Funding was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
Declared conflicts of interest included consulting and personal fees from pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis and Pfizer.