Theories about preventing childhood allergies questioned

Mar 10 2008

When it comes to preventing food allergies in children two new studies are saying that many methods currently in practice may be ineffective.

The popular theory on preventing food allergies in children involves strict diets for both mother and baby, along with a planned introduction of foods into the child's diet.

An exclusive breast milk regime for at least four months for babies is advocated by many experts in order to avoid or delay atopic diseases such as eczema, asthma, and food allergies.

However, according to research by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) and research by a team of German scientists these strategies may simply be overkill.

While mothers-to-be, concerned that their newborns may be at risk of food allergies, have proactively changed their own diets to avoid major allergens while pregnant and nursing, the chairman of the AAP Dr. Frank Greer says it probably does not matter what pregnant and lactating women eat.

Dr. Frank Greer says in his report that there is no evidence that mothers should delay the introduction of foods such as eggs, fish or peanut butter because of allergy prevention.

The AAP however still recommends that parents delay the introduction of solid foods for four to six months in the name of allergy prevention even though this theory too may not be well proven.

According to the German research there is no evidence to support this recommendation and they in fact found that the delayed introduction of solids for the prescribed time did not lower children's risk nasal allergies, asthma, and food allergies.

The only possible exception was eczema, as they found that children given solid foods before four months of age were more likely to develop eczema later in life.

Senior researcher Dr. Joachim Heinrich does warn parents not to ignore the advice to delay solid foods, as infants may not be developed enough to properly chew and swallow foods.

Another study by Australian researchers has found that children with a particular strain of eczema, are three times more likely to develop asthma.

The strain known as "allergic eczema" is caused by allergies to food, dust or cat hair and researcher, Adrian Lowe, from the University of Melbourne says all children with eczema should have an allergy skin test, to see whether they harbour the strain.

Dr. Lowe says for those infants that do have allergic eczema, it helps to identify it so that they are properly and quickly diagnosed and treated if need be.

A simple skin prick tests used to pick up allergies in children can identify which children are most vulnerable to developing asthma as well.

The results also suggest skin prick testing could be used in research to shed more light on the links between eczema and other allergic diseases.

The findings are published in the international journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy.