Investigators: Debbie Palmer, Susan Prescott, Michael O'Sullivan.
External collaborators: Maria Makrides, Thomas Sullivan, Michael Gold, Patrick Quinn and Merryn Netting (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Women’s and Children’s Hospital Adelaide and University of Adelaide), Dianne Campbell, Ralph Nanan and Peter Hsu (University of Sydney and Westmead Children’s Hospital), and Kirsten Perrett, Jennifer Koplin and Vicki McWilliam (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute).
One in every ten babies in Australia are now developing a food allergy, with the most common being egg and peanut allergies. Recently, babies have been found to be at risk of developing a food allergy even before they start eating solid foods.
This study will determine whether the risk of developing egg and peanut food allergies in children can be reduced by a maternal diet rich in eggs and peanuts during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The study period is from 22 weeks gestation in pregnancy until 4 months of breastfeeding. The babies are followed up until 12 months of age. This study will involve more than 2100 women and their babies. Families with a history of allergic disease (for example asthma, eczema, hay fever and food allergies) can participant in this study.
This project is funded by the NHMRC (ID1147576). Trial registration number: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618000937213.
Trial protocol publication: Debra J Palmer, Thomas R Sullivan, Dianne E Campbell, Ralph Nanan, Michael S Gold, Peter S Hsu, Merryn J Netting, Vicki McWilliam, Jennifer J Koplin, Kirsten P Perrett, Patrick Quinn, Michael O'Sullivan, Susan L. Prescott, Rosalie Grivell and Maria Makrides. PrEggNut Study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating the effect of a maternal diet rich in eggs and peanuts from <23 weeks’ gestation during pregnancy to four months’ lactation on infant IgE-mediated egg and peanut allergy outcomes. BMJ Open 2022 Jun 13;12(6):e056925. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056925