Small amounts of peanut protein can stave off peanut allergies, according to a landmark 2015 trial that found this approach reduced the risk of developing a peanut allergy by 80 percent in susceptible kids. You can now buy expensive peanut powders for your baby, but you know what works at least as well? A 99 cent snack called Bamba.
Bamba is a peanutty, crunchy snack that melts in your mouth. Imagine Cheez Doodles, but with peanut powder instead of cheese powder. It’s one of the leading snack foods in Israel, and babies there eat it all the time—like how Cheerios are ubiquitous on high chair trays here in the states.
There’s no foolproof recipe for preventing peanut allergies, but the NIH recommends a three tiered approach for reducing risk:
Infants at high risk of developing a peanut allergy (who have severe eczema or egg allergies) should start eating peanut products at 4 to 6 months, but should have a doctor’s okay to do so. (The doctor may recommend a skin test first, for example.)
Infants at lower risk, who have mild or moderate eczema, should start eating peanut-containing foods around age 6 months.
Infants without eczema or food allergies can eat peanuts whenever.
If you’re a parent and you recall being told to delay introducing peanuts, that’s no longer a recommended approach. (As always, check with your kid’s doctor if you have questions.)
So in the trial that found it helps to give babies peanuts, guess what they used? Bamba, served with meals three times a week. As a Trader Joe’s addict, I am happy to report that the snack is now sold at TJ’s. (Astute snackers have also been known to hunt them down at ethnic groceries.)
It’s a bargain at 99 cents, not just because Cheez Doodles are two or three bucks, but because two companies are charging way more for packets of peanut powder meant to stir into baby food.
HelloPeanut sells their peanut packets for $25 a box, for a cost of $32/month as a “maintenance” dose. (For that price, you could buy yourself a full bag of Bamba every day and share a few with your kid. And still save money.) SpoonfulOne does something similar with a mix of 16 different foods, all purified and ground into less than one gram of potentially allergy-preventing dust, for $70/month on a subscription basis.
Folks. Just get the Bamba.
Update 4/16/2018: We added a paragraph about the current recommendations for when to introduce peanuts. Bamba is a fine snack for babies who are not at high risk of developing a peanut allergy. It’s also a cheaper alternative to the services we mentioned. It’s not a DIY treatment for kids at high risk.