February 2016

The 2016 IPF will take place at the NH Collection Eurobuilding Hotel in Madrid, Spain from April 13-15, 2016. This meeting brings together the world’s peanut industry to network, conduct business and discuss issues impacting our industry. It is your one opportunity every two years to get your product or service before the worldwide peanut industry. Registrations for the event are ahead of previous years and demand for table top exhibits is high. Details on the event and registration pages can be found at www.peanutsusa.com/ipf2016

Registration is $815 per person, with additional lunch/reception tickets available to purchase for spouses. The NH Collection Eurobuilding Hotel is now sold out on the nights of the 13th & 14th of April. However, rooms are still available at the nearby AC Cuzco Hotel (part of the Marriott chain), which is only a few minutes walk away. If you wish to book there please follow this link http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/madcu-ac-hotel-cuzco/ This year we have introduced a mobile meeting app so that all delegates can keep up to date with latest registrations, speakers, sponsors and the conference program and can use the app to contact other delegates to set up meetings or have discussions. APC would like to thank event sponsors Camara Argentina del Mani, Triz Ventures, Agro-crops, Golden Peanut & Tree Nuts, Birdsong Peanuts, Coplana, Tomra Sorting Solutions, Olam, Langguth, Stagni Benito (Moretto), Premium Peanut LLC, Focus Business Communi-cation, Texas Peanut Producers and Mintel for their support. Others wishing to sponsor the event, exhibit or advertise, can find more details on the above website or e-mail Louise at lmckerchar@peanutsusa.org.uk

UPDATE ON INTERNATIONAL PEANUT FORUM - MADRID 2016

UPDATE ON INTERNATIONAL PEANUT FO-RUM - MADRID 2016

75 YEARS OF PEANUT INDUSTRY HISTORY

BLASTS FROM THE PEANUT PAST - 1973

CALL FOR PAPERS

SPG’S NATIONAL RECIPE CONTEST HONORS PEANUT BUTTER’S PLACE IN OUR LIVES

NATIONAL PEANUT BOARD APPROVES FY-16 PRODUCTION RESEARCH PROJECTS, ENCOURAGES DIVERSITY

TPPB ELECTION AND REFERENDUM RESULTS ANNOUNCED

NUT CONSUMPTION MAY REDUCE INCIDENCE OF BREAST AND COLON CANCER

2016 USA PEANUT CONGRESS REGISTRATION IS OPEN

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, KRYSTA HARDEN, DEPARTS USDA

AMERICAN PEANUT COUNCIL JOINS LEADING SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE

THE PEANUT FOUNDATION - STEVE BROWN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

NEW MEMBERS

NUTRITION NEWS YOU CAN USE:STRONGLY ALLERGENIC FOODS INTRODUCED EARLY TO YOUNG CHILDREN REDUCE RISK OF LATER FOOD ALLERGY

CONTENT LINKS

75 YEARS OF PEANUT INDUSTRY HISTORY

BLASTS FROM THE PEANUT PAST1973

Hardbound copies of the 75 years of peanut industry history memory book are still available. This retrospective book contains lots of photos and text from the early days of the industry, the founding of the Council, early promo-tional materials, and highlights the major milestones of our industry. These books make great and unique pres-ents for customers a.

To order your copies, please go to www.pb4h.org/donate. All profits go to Peanut Butter for the Hungry. If you wish to pay by check, call the APC office at 703-838-9500 and we’ll process your order.

Why did you last dig a spoon into a jar of peanut butter? Was it to top your morning oatmeal and power your day? Or to make a decadent dessert celebrating yet another milestone in life? Honoring peanut butter’s unwavering spot in our lives and on our pantry shelves, Southern Peanut Growers is hosting a national PB My Way: For Life recipe contest at www.peanutbutterlovers.com.

Launching March 1 for the beginning of March, National

Peanut Month, and now in its seventh year, the 2016 PB My Way recipe contest will seek the peanut butter recipes Americans turn to for life’s adventures – from meals in a busy daily routine to post-workout snacks or sweet treats enjoyed with family and friends.

PB My Way: For Life recipe contest details • From March 1 to April 15, 2016, people can submit PB

recipes at www.peanutbutterlovers.com. • Recipes should fall into the categories of Snack Time,

Fit Fuel, Family-tested and Sweet Celebrations. • One grand prize winner will receive a Vitamix®

high-performance blender (value of $449). Addition-ally, winners in each category will be awarded a box of peanut butter goodies, including classic PB as well as new products.

Visit with SPG at These Upcoming Events

• February 26-28 - Southern Women’s Show, Savan-nah, Ga.

• March 10 – Florida Peanut Producers Annual Meet-ing, Marianna, Fla.

• March 11 – Cherokee County Farm Bureau Exhibition, Canton, Ga.

• March 17 – Georgia Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics Meeting, Atlanta, Ga.

• April 14-17 – Southern Women’s Show, Nashville, Tenn.

SPG’S NATIONAL RECIPE CONTEST HONORS PEANUT BUTTER’S PLACE IN OUR LIVES

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Peanut Research and Education Society (APRES) will be held at the Hilton Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, FL from July 12-14, 2016.APRES members who wish to present original papers or posters at the 2016 APRES Annual Meeting should submit an abstract on-line at www.apresinc.com by March 31, 2016. Authors of both oral presentations and posters will be notified by May 1 if their abstract has been selected for presentation.

For questions?

Contact 2016 Technical Program Chairman:Ramon LeonUniversity of FloridaUF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center 4253 Experiment Rd., Hwy. 182Jay, FL 32565 Phone: 850-983-7102 rglg@ufl.edu

Notification DateAuthors of both oral presentations and posters will be notified by May 1st if their abstract has been selected for presentation at the 2016 APRES Annual Meeting.

NATIONAL PEANUT BOARD APPROVES FY-16 PRODUCTION RESEARCH PROJECTS, ENCOURAGES DIVERSITY

The National Peanut Board held its quarterly board meeting in Atlanta Feb. 3-4, 2016 and addressed funding for FY-16 state production research projects. Recommen-dations for 51 project proposals totaling $1.98 million were reviewed and approved. The review and recommenda-tions were provided by Dr. Joseph Touchton. Since 2001, NPB has invested more than $25 million in research to increase efficiencies for U.S. peanut farmers. During the meeting of the Diversity Advisory Council, Leigh Allen, executive director of the National Black Growers Council (NBGC), presented to the group. Bob Parker, NPB president and CEO, spoke at the Council’s annual meeting last month and encouraged minority peanut farmers’ involvement in agricultural leadership at the local and national levels. The mission of the NBGC is to improve the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of black row crop farmers. The next meeting of the National Peanut Board will be held March 29-30, 2016 in Oklahoma City.

TPPB ELECTION AND REFERENDUM RESULTS ANNOUNCEDTwo incumbents return, one new director

The Texas Peanut Producers Board re-elected twoboard members and elected one new board member during elections held in January. Each person elected will serve a six year term, or until the year 2022.

Jeff Roper of Lubbock and Otis Lee Johnson of Seminole were re-elected to their seats in Voting Region One. Bill Slomchinski of Pleasanton was elected to the board as awrite-in candidate and will serve in an At-Large seat.

Additionally, a referendum to increase the checkoff from two dollars per net ton to three dollars per net ton did not pass by a two-thirds vote.

News releases and legal notices on the election were sent to all major newspapers in the state. The voting pe-riod was from January 9-23, 2016. A canvassing com-mittee counted ballots on February 5 and TDA ratified the election.

The three board members will be sworn in on March 30, 2016, during TPPB’s spring boardmeeting in Graham by Stuart Strnad, Texas Depart-ment of Agriculture.

The state of Texas has been divided by TPPB into four separate voting regions. These voting regions allow for board directors to more closely represent the peanut in-terests of a particular region of the state, and to provide representation for all Texas peanut producers on the board. Since 2014, the TPPB has consisted of 9 board members.

Founded in 1969, TPPB is the oldest agricultural com-modity board in the state of Texas.

The next election will be in 2018 with four seats up for election

NUT CONSUMPTION MAY REDUCE INCIDENCE OF BREAST AND COLON CANCER

Eating 2 or 3 servings per week (57-84g) of nuts

can reduce the risk of several types of cancer.Adding nuts to your diet is associated to a reduction in the risk of cancer. This is the main conclusion of multi-ple studies that have shown that eating 2 or 3 servings per week (57-84 g) of nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts or almonds, is associated to a reduction in the risk of some types of cancer (breast, colon, pancreatic and lung cancer).

A study by Dr. Soriano-Hernandez and his team at the University of Colima (México) has concluded that frequent consumption of peanuts, walnuts or almonds is associated to a reduced risk of breast cancer by a factor of 2 or 3. Researchers analysed 97 patients with breast cancer and 104 control subjects who did not have the pathology.1 Another study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (USA) showed that eating 2 servings of nuts per week during adolescence is associated to a 36% lower risk of breast cancer compared to women consuming less than 1 serving per month2 .

Different studies have shown that nut consumption can reduce the incidence of colon cancer as well. In 2004, the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition showed a reduced incidence of colon cancer in women who ate an average of 16 g of nuts and seeds daily. This study revealed that wom-en who consumed more than 6.2 g per day of nuts and seeds was associated to a 31% lower risk of colon cancer3 . Earlier this year, a team of researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (USA) found that women who consumed nuts twice or more per week (approx. 56 g per week) had a 13% lower risk of colorectal cancer compared with women who rarely consumed nuts.4

Furthermore, eating just 2 servings (56 g) is associated with a 32% lower risk of pancreatic cancer among women5 and researchers from the DCCPS Nation-al Cancer Institute (Maryland, United States) have reported that nut consumption was statistically associ-ated with a reduced risk of lung cancer. 6

The conclusion is that eating nuts is not only associat-

ed with a lower risk of cancer but also a reduced risk of death from cancer. These are the results of the PRED-IMED study (PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea), which indicated last year that participants who habit-ually had 3 servings (57 g) per week of nuts enjoyed a 40% reduction in deaths from cancer .7

About the International Nut & Dried Fruit Council The International Nut & Dried Fruit Council (INC) members include nearly 700 nut and dried fruit sector companies from over 70 countries. INC is the inter-national organisation of reference regarding health, nutrition, statistics, food safety, international standards and regulations relating to nuts and dried fruit.relating to nuts and dried fruit.

1 Soriano-Hernandez AD, Madrigal-Perez DG, Gal-van-Salazar HR, Arreola-Cruz A, Briseño-Gomez L, Guzmán-Esquivel J, Dobrovinskaya O, Lara-Esqueda A, Rodríguez-Sanchez IP, Baltazar-Rodriguez LM, Espino-za-Gomez F, Martinez-Fierro ML, de-LeonZaragoza L, Olmedo-Buenrostro BA, Delgado-Enciso I. The protec-tive effect of peanut, walnut, and almond consumption on the development of breast cancer. Gynecol Obstet, Invest, 2015;80(2):89-92. Doi: 10.1159/000369997. Epub 2015 Jul 10. 2 Xuefen Su, Rulla M. Tamimi, Laura C. Collins, Heath-er J. Baer, Eunyoung Cho, Laura Sampson, Walter C. Willett, Stuart J. Schnitt, James L. Connolly, Bernard A. Rosner, and Graham A. Colditz. Intake of Fiber and Nuts during Adolescence and Incidence of Proliferative Benign Breast Disease. Cancer Causes Control. 2010 Jul; 21(7): 1033–1046. Published online 2010 Mar 14. doi: 10.1007/s10552-010-9532-7.

3 Jenab M, Ferrari P, Slimani N, Norat T, Casagrande C, Overad K, Olsen A, Stripp C, Tjonneland A, Boutron-Ru-ault MC, ClavelChapelon F, Kesse E, Nieters A, Berg-

mann M, Boeing H, Naska A, Trichopoulou A, Palli D, Krogh V, Celentano E, Tumino R, Sacerdote C, Bue-no-De-Mesquita HB, Ocke MC, Peeters PH, Engeset D, Quiros JR, Gonzalez CA, Martinez C, Chirlaque MD, Ardanaz E, Dorronsoro M, Wallstrom P, Palmqvist R, Van Guelpen B, Bingham S, San Joaquin MA, Saracci R, Kaaks R, Riboli E. Association of nut and seed intake with colorectal cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004; 13(10):1595-1603.

4 M Yang, F B Hu, E L Giovannucci, M J Stampfer, W C Willett, C S Fuchs, K Wu and Y Bao. Nut consumption and risk of colorectal can-cer in women. European Journal of Clinical Nutri-tion (6 May 2015) | doi:10.1038/ejcn.2015.66.

5 Bao Y, Hu FB, Giovannucci EL, Wolpin BM, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Fuchs CS. Nut consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer in women. Br J Cancer. 2013;109:2911–2916.

6 Jenifer Lee, Tram Lam, Dario Consonni, An-gela Pesatori, Pier Bertazzi and Maria Landi. Association of Nut Consumption and Lung Cancer Risk in a Large Population-based Case-control Study. The FASEB Journal vol. 29 no 1 Supplement 736.11. April 2015.

7 Guasch-Ferré M, Bulló M, Martínez-González MÁ, Ros E, Corella D, Estruch R, Fitó M, Arós F, Wärnberg J, Fiol M, Lapetra J, Vinyoles E, Lamue-la-Raventós RM, Serra-Majem L, Pintó X, Ruiz-Gutiérrez V, Basora J, Salas-Salvadó J; PREDIMED study group. Fre-quency of nut consump-tion and mortality risk in the PREDIMED nutrition intervention trial. BMC Med. 2013 Jul 16;11:164.doi:10.1186/1741-7015-

Registration is now open for the 20th annual USA Peanut Congress, a joint annual meeting of the Amer-ican Peanut Council and the American Peanut Shell-ers Association. This year’s meeting will be held June 25-29, 2016, at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Over 300 peanut industry members are expected to attend. To register and to get other meeting information, please go to: http://peanut-shellers.org/eventinfo.aspx?eid=4 A block of rooms at the Charleston Place Hotel is being held at the group rate of $269. Reservations can be made by calling (800) 831-3490 and referencing the USA Peanut Congress Group. Reservations can also be made by emailing: groupres@charlestonplace.com . One night’s deposit at time of booking is required to confirm all reservations. The hotel address is 205 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina. The room block deadline for reservations is June 3rd; however, the room block ALWAYS fills up well before the cut-off date so please make your reservations early.

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden is depart-ing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the end of February 2016. To ensure continuity of opera-tions upon her departure, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that Michael Scuse, the current Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS), will serve as Acting Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. Secretary Vilsack also directed Alexis Taylor, the current Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, to assume the duties of Under Secretary for FFAS.

2016 USA PEANUT CONGRESS REGIS-TRATION IS OPEN

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, KRYSTA HARDEN, DEPARTS USDA

Secretary Vilsack made the following statement on the departure of Deputy Secretary Harden: “Krysta Harden shares a special bond with rural America and agriculture that is deeply rooted in her family history and personal values, embodying the mission of USDA in a genuine way. I greatly appre-ciate her many years of service to the Obama Ad-ministration and to USDA. But more than anything, I am grateful for her friendship, sound judgement and leadership as a key member of my team since 2009. As a farmer’s daughter from rural Georgia, Krysta used her position as Deputy Secretary to explain the opportunities and challenges facing U.S. agriculture.” Source: USDA news release

THE PEANUT FOUNDATION - STEVE BROWN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AMERICAN PEANUT COUNCIL JOINS LEADING SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE

You don’t have to be a genetic scientist to get excited about what is happening in the peanut genome proj-ect. We’re in the fourth year of a five-year industry wide commitment to unlock the secrets of the peanut plant and we’re making great progress. Most of us get at least a little confused when we hear the details of the scientific accomplishments, but we can all get onboard when we hear about how these developments

American Peanut Council (APC) is pleased to announce that it has joined Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, a multi-stake-holder initiative committed to advancing sustain-ability across the agricultural supply chain. As an active member in Field to Market, APC will collab-orate with other industry organizations, academia, conservation groups, public sector partners and leading companies to help realize this goal. “The peanut industry has always strived to use its natural resources wisely, and over the past couple of years the industry has been working to establish baseline measurements of its energy, greenhouse gases and water usage,” said Patrick Archer, APC President. “Field to Market and the American Pea-nut Council share a strong commitment to sound science and continual improvement. Our involve-ment in Field to Market is a natural next step, and we are excited to be a member of this progressive, reputable organization.” Visit www.fieldtomarket.org to learn more about Field to Market and its current initiatives.

can lead to better peanuts. Some may argue that our warehouses are already bulging with too many pea-nuts. Why do we need to produce more? Genomic research may indeed lead to peanut plants that push our concept of maximum yield potential, but the pros-pects of a better peanut are ever more exciting than the prospects of more of what we already have. What grower wouldn’t welcome a peanut that yields equally well as those grown now, but with half the production costs? What manufacturer wouldn’t welcome a better tasting peanut with longer shelf life and better nutri-tional value? What sheller wouldn’t welcome a peanut that stores longer and shells and blanches more easily? Wouldn’t the entire industry welcome the opportunity to feed a growing consumer demand? Recently, I’ve had the challenge of boiling down some phenomenal scientific accomplishments to layman’s terms. Admittedly, I’m trying to promote the benefits of the genome project to those that may not under-stand the implications of recent developments. At the same time I try to promote enthusiasm, I also try to curb that enthusiasm by saying that it will take time for the full impact of marker assisted breeding (which is not GMO by the way) to show up in seeds that growers can buy. But the accomplishments are real, the implications are phenomenal and we are already starting to see marker assisted breeding impact the re-lease of some new peanut varieties, most notably Ole’, TifNV-HiO/L, and Georgia 14N. Many more are in the pipeline. Please help me spread the word that the peanut genome project is making tremendous progress. Even if you’re like me and don’t understand all the details, you can still be proud that our industry recognizes the value of improved genetics and we’re well ahead of most crops in developing cutting edge marker-assist-ed breeding technologies. I’m told that when we’re through with current research, the quality of pea-nut genomic data will probably be better than that for even those crops that have previously published genomes. You will soon see a press release from the University of Georgia that outlines one significant accomplishment, the publication of the genomes of the wild progenitors to modern day peanut. Help me spread the exciting story of peanut genomics.

The new APC tote bag specification with the addition of elongation of the bags and polypropylene fraze specifica-tions are now available. Certificate of Analysis (COA) and a Declaration of Compliance are also available. These documents together will help insure that your bags are in compliance with FDA and EU regulations for Flexible Inter-mediate Bulk Containers. All new bags as of September 1 should comply with these new specifications.

Work has been completed with Chris Butts (USDA-ARS Dawson) on raising the recommended temperature for cold storages. Several cold storages and shellers have analyzed changing the recommended temperature for storing pea-nuts and found no issues. Cold storage maximum tempera-ture up to around 50 degrees F is thought to virtually elim-inate condensation in totes loaded into trucks for shipment during the summer months. No issues with mold have been found in tote bags under these storage conditions for the last year. The results of this work will be released in the next few months.

Anyone needing copies of the latest totebag specifications should contact Howard Valentine (hvalentine@peanutsusa.com) or Christina Taylor (ctaylor@peanutsusa.com).

TOTE BAGS

eTDE

Discussions are still ongoing on a fee system to sustain eTDE for the future. Any updates to existing docu-ments or any new documents added will have to be funded by the provider of the document. We are cur-rently making modifications to an existing document for a user of eTDE. If you have documents that need to be added or modified please contact Howard Valentine (hvalentine@peanutsusa.com).

All major functions are working successfully with over 770,000 documents uploaded to date. Please note that we have new software for both US and EU Afla-toxin certificates for any lab desiring to use the soft-ware.

Discussions have occurred with FAS in regard to Cana-da, Mexico and Japan starting to use electronic docu-ments. They have assured us that they will move more aggressively on adding new ports and border crossings.

If you need assistance in getting registered with eTDE or need additional information please contact Steve Calhoun (calhoste@bellsouth.net ) or Howard Valentine (hvaletine@peanutsusa.com).

TRIZ VENTURES LIMITED

TRIZ a multi national company engaged in pro-curing, processing, producing and international trading of peanuts and peanut products.

A company considering farmer’s, processor’s and consumer’s interests and honouring commitment with the highest ethical business practices, spread-ing the operations and expertise in almost every peanut producing country. We make peanuts and peanuts products from farms to consumers by supplying in raw form to confectionaries, the snack industry and the oil extracting and peanut butter industries.

Our constant efforts of 15 years enabled us to improve our quality standards using the innovation in the industry providing one of the best quality peanuts. We continue to strive towards perfection in quality with experience.

We aim atImproving Ourselves,Our Services,Our processes,Our Products..to meet consumer needs and safety Triz VenturesBrijesh Shah http://trizventures.com/brijesh/

NEW MEMBERS STRONGLY ALLERGENIC FOODS INTRODUCED EARLY TO YOUNG CHILDREN REDUCE RISK OF LATER FOOD ALLERGYBritish investigators have advanced our understand-ing about what happens to the risk of developing food allergy if allergenic foods are introduced early in a child’s diet along with continued breastfeeding. The EAT (En-quiring about Tolerance) Study released its findings this month and the conclusions are strongly positive not only for peanuts, but for five other strongly allergenic foods in the trial: cow’s milk, hen’s egg, sesame, whitefish (cod) and wheat. Summing up the clinical implications of the three year intervention, the London-based researchers said “The EAT study demonstrates that multiple aller-genic foods can be introduced into the infant diet. The introduction of allergenic foods was safe, and there was no adverse influence on breastfeeding.” The EAT web-site www.eatstudy.co.uk has much more information on practical aspects of this study.

Parents were very keen to enrol their babies in this study and 1,303 infants aged 3 months were included in the 3 year study which was weighted to reflect the UK pop-ulation by gender and ethnicity. This gives the findings considerable power. Funding came jointly from the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Medical Research Council (MRC).

EAT had a much wider remit than LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy which reported in February 2016) namely “to test the hypoth-esis that the early introduction of multiple allergenic foods from

NUTRITION NEWS YOU CAN USE: Dr. Andrew Craig

3 months of age in an unselected population of ex-clusively breastfed infants will, as a primary outcome, reduce the prevalence of food allergy and, as a sec-ondary outcome, influence asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis. EAT was significantly different from LEAP in three key respects: EAT studied unselected infants; LEAP studied only babies at high risk of developing peanut allergy who already had eczema or egg allergy or both. EAT’s Early Intervention Group babies were fed six allergenic foods; LEAP’s participants were fed only one, peanut. EAT introduced complementary feeding alongside continued breastfeeding earlier, from 3 months; LEAP introduced peanut protein only between 4 and 10 months.

It is important to note that 97% of mothers of early intervention group children continued to breast feed while introducing complementary allergenic foods. EAT’s objectives were achieved “without any adverse influence on breastfeeding performance.” EAT was not about supplanting breast feeding, but added supple-mentary allergenic foods to continued breast feeding.

Several key messages for peanuts emerge from the EAT study. One is that the majority of British parents still fear introducing peanut early to babies for fear of allergies or because they believe the food is not suitable for very young children. Although UK guide-lines recommending delaying introduction of peanut were withdrawn in 2009, EAT researchers found that children enrolling in the study were still not being given peanut early. “At 8 to 10 months of age, only 8% of infants had been given peanuts or peanut products.” Despite this fear, the proportion of infants in the early intervention group consuming the recommended amount of food protein per week by 6 months of age was 65% for peanut, whitefish, and wheat. The me-dian age for first consumption of peanut in this group was 19.6 weeks. There were no reactions that caused concern.

Another outcome of EAT is an indication of how much peanut butter might be required to induce tolerance and from what age. The exact answer is still unknown, but the findings point to about 3 rounded teaspoons of peanut butter per week from about age 3 months being sufficient for this purpose. Overall, early introduction of peanut and other allergenic foods was successful, pointing towards reduction of peanut allergy later in the

general population. As the investigators concluded, “The possibility of earlier introduction of peanut (as early as 3 months of age) could potentially enhance prevention of peanut allergy in the general population by inducing tolerance in those children who would otherwise have peanut allergy early in the first year of life.” The success of EAT shows that with encourage-ment and support, parents are prepared to overcome their fears and introduce peanut and other allergenic foods much earlier than previously to their very young children.

Now the EAT findings, together with the seminal conclusions of LEAP, need to be incorporated into new guidelines from which clinicians can advise parents about optimising risk reduction for development of lat-er food allergy. It all sounds counter intuitive to many people, especially in the food allergy community, and the chances of media distortion are significant. None-theless the prize of significantly reducing the incidence of peanut and other food allergy not just in high risk individuals is certainly worth trying to achieve.

Ref: Perkin M et al, 2016. “Enquiring About Toler-ance (EAT) study: Feasibility of an early allergenic food introduction regimen” Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (open access, online before publication) www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749%2816%2900135-4/pdf