STOPPING very young children from eating foods such as eggs, shellfish and peanuts may not prevent them developing allergies and might even be responsible for a dramatic increase in severe food reactions, say leading specialist doctors, who are calling for a rethink of the food exclusion philosophy.

As well, they will challenge government advice that infants should be exclusively breast-fed for the first six months, saying this could also raise the allergy risk and that four months is a better age for babies to begin building up immune tolerance to some basic foods.

Food allergies had risen over the past two decades, at the same time as parents had been warned to be cautious about introducing specific foods, said Andrew Kemp, Professor of Paediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Children's Hospital at Westmead.