Dr. Kari Nadeau is a Pediatric Allergist and Immunologist, and Director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University. Throughout her career, she has researched the concept of how to introduce food allergens to babies and how to avoid allergies from developing.
In a study by Dr. Nadeau, 450 infants and children were randomized equally to be fed a single allergenic food protein, two allergenic food proteins, or a combination of 10 allergenic food proteins every day for one year. She also varied the amount of protein from 30 milligrams of each protein, to three times that amount, and ten times that amount.
What she found is that feeding 10 food allergens in combination (egg, milk, shrimp, salmon, almond, hazelnut, walnut, peanut, cashew, and wheat) decreased allergy-triggering antibodies (IgE) and increased allergy-blocking antibodies (IgG4) more than just feeding one or two food proteins (Figures 1 and 2). That is to say, feeding multiple proteins simultaneously resulted in greater benefits than feeding one or two proteins to support tolerance to those foods.
Furthermore, Dr. Nadeau found that the lowest amount of protein (just 30 milligrams of each food protein) decreased IgE and increased IgG4 by just as much as larger amounts.
“Research from around the world is converging on the idea that babies don't need to be introduced to large amounts of a food allergen. Most important, is to feed proteins routinely over months and years, even in small amounts.”
- Dr. Kari Nadeau
This study became the foundation of the SpoonfulONE multiprotein blend. Supported by her research, Dr. Nadeau selected the lowest amount of protein and subsequently added additional food proteins in order to cover the 16 foods associated with over 90% of food allergies.
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
