Welcome, I’m Dr. Melina Roberts, author of Building a Healthy Child. Thank you so much for watching. I’m so excited to have so many people watching my videos. We have an opportunity to take control of our child’s health, to prevent childhood illnesses, to support proper growth and development and build long-term health in our children.

Here’s a frequently asked question:

Some of the research is saying to introduce allergenic foods early but you are saying to introduce them later, can you explain your point of view because I’m confused?

We build the foundation of our human microbiome in our digestive tract between birth and age 3 and this microbiome plays an essential role in how your immune system functions, therefore if we can properly build the microbiome, we can allow the immune system to react appropriately to anything in its environment including food. Therefore I recommend waiting until the digestive tract is more developed, the microbiome is properly established and the immune system is able to react appropriately to allergenic foods, then introduce peanuts. With my patient population who have following my plan diligently, there has been zero food allergies, zero anaphylactic allergies, not simply a decrease in incidence. Maybe it’s luck, maybe it’s a coincidence BUT after we see hundreds of cases then we think just maybe it’s the plan.

This “Building a Healthy Child Program” is based on three key concepts:

  1. The foundation of our human microbiome is established between birth and age 3, therefore how we introduce foods in the early years in extremely important.
  2. Our organs mature at different rates therefore we need to introduce foods in line with organ maturation for proper growth and development.
  3. Our bodies are hardwired to breakdown real, nutrient-dense foods, not processed, chemically-laden food-like products.

Until next time, continue to learn, grow and build health.