Exciting results are out from an eight-year study by the Harvard Medical School that questioned the outcomes of allergy in children if their mothers either avoided completely – or purposefully consumed – peanut, milk and wheat during pregnancy.

These three foods were chosen because they account for a large proportion of food allergies found in young children, and cause or contribute to asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis. The study included 1,277 mother/child pairs.

The results were quite dramatic:

• Ingestion of peanut, especially during the first trimester, reduced the chance of peanut allergy by 47 percent!
• Daily milk intake during pregnancy, again especially in the first trimester, markedly reduced the risk for asthma and allergic rhinitis.
• Daily wheat intake, in both the first and second trimesters, significantly reduced the chance for the child developing eczema.

So, moms-to-be can relax a little. Based on their results, these Harvard researchers concluded that ingestion as indicated above of peanut, milk and wheat during pregnancy has a marked ability to reduce childhood allergies.