Leading Pediatric Allergist and Atlanta Parents Launch New Food Company To Help Stop Allergies Before They Start
D
uring Food Allergy Awareness Week, Mission MightyMe is launching its first product, MightyMe Proactive Peanut Puffs, to make it deliciously simple for parents to follow American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for peanut introduction in infancy to help prevent peanut allergies.
The quick-dissolve puffs were developed in accordance with the groundbreaking 2015 LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) Study, led by Mission MightyMe Co-Founder Dr. Gideon Lack. The LEAP Study found that most peanut allergies could be prevented by including peanut protein in high-risk infants' diets, starting as early as 4-11 months and regularly until age 5. This discovery changed infant feeding guidance around the globe.
The LEAP Study proved there's a critical window in the first year of life when most babies' immune systems can learn to tolerate peanut protein and prevent a food allergy from ever developing, said Dr. Lack. The old guidance that advised parents to avoid feeding peanuts to their babies until age three may have inadvertently made the rates of peanut allergies worse.
Atlanta parents of three, Catherine and JJ Jaxon, followed the previous avoidance recommendations with their first child, only to discover that she had developed a severe nut allergy by age three. But when their third child was born in 2015, everything changed.
The LEAP Study gave us hope that we could prevent another food allergy in our family with early introduction, said Mission MightyMe Co-founder Catherine Jaxon. But nuts and nut butters are a choking hazard for babies and the entire baby food industry is allergen-free, so we partnered with Dr. Lack to change that.
Mission MightyMe also serves as an information resource for parents, offering an in-depth Learning Center on MissionMightyMe.com. In response to a common question among parents during the pandemic, the company interviewed experts and published an article this week about whether parents should still follow the guidelines for introducing peanuts and other potential food allergens to babies, even during quarantine.
Dr. Lack says he would normally test high-risk children for peanut allergy first, but since that's not an option during the pandemic, he is talking with parents about the risks and benefits of withholding peanut versus early introduction, based on the child's history and a risk-benefit assessment.
Most babies can stick with the recommended schedule, says Dr. Lack. However, parents of high-risk children who have significant eczema, existing egg allergy or both should talk with their physician first.
MightyMe Peanut Puffs are made with simple, organic, non-GMO ingredients, and contain more than 50% peanuts. They dissolve quickly for babies and taste delicious for big kids, making them a nutritious, clean-label snack for the whole family. They are sold in a box of five stand-up resealable pouches for $4.99 per pouch. Customers can purchase the puffs directly at missionmightyme.com.
✔️ Leading Pediatric Allergist and Atlanta Parents Launch New Food Company To Help Stop Allergies Before They Start
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