A new study suggests introducing peanut butter during infancy may help protect against a peanut allergy, during adolescence.

British researchers looked at data from 500 children who participated as babies in another peanut allergy study. The study found about 15 percent of those who originally avoided peanuts as babies had a peanut allergy at around 12 years of age, but among those who originally consumed peanuts, that dropped to about four percent.

Local pediatrician John Cox says he encourages parents to test their kids for the allergy, whether they're concerned their child has one or not.

"I usually tell parents around that six month age to start to maybe introduce that because we used to do it years ago," Cox said. "It started off maybe age one, then for a while it's at age two and we found there was more kids becoming more allergic, so now it's dropped down to six months," he said.

Cox said to start small and not to give young children whole peanuts.

"Nuts are hard, walnuts, they're gonna choke on this thing. So choking is a real fear with those kids. There is the smooth peanut butter or they actually have like the peanut butter powder that people use for protein drinks, you can mix that with some breast milk or some formula to make a little bit of a slurry and kind of do that little by little," Cox said. "I sometimes will have parents put a little tiny bit on their finger and just touch the corner of the baby's lip because it's a mucous membrane. So if they're gonna have a reaction, that membrane would swell," he said.

Cox tells 21 News swelling is not the only indicator of an allergic reaction.

"You're gonna get anything from hives, to shortness of breath, to some vomiting, depending on how allergic you might be or how allergic that child may be," Cox said. "It's gonna happen within the first 15 minutes," he said.

Cox urges parents to have Benadryl on hand and take children to an allergist or a pediatrician for further direction on their child's specific needs, as these allergies can be "incredibly severe."