New research from the United States shows a solid decline in childhood food allergies following changes in infant feeding advice, and there are signs Australia is on a similar path.

A new study, published this week in Pediatrics , found the number of children under three with food allergies fell by 36 per cent – driven largely by a 43 per cent reduction in peanut allergies – in the years after US health authorities scrapped old advice to delay exposure.

In 2017, new guidelines instead encouraged parents to take an early-introduction approach, offering peanut products to infants from around six months of age.

Allergy epidemiologist Associate Professor Rachel Peters from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute says any sign of falling allergy rates is encouraging.

“Living with alle

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