A new study shows how the immune system at birth is linked to the development of baby food allergy. A research team from Australia observed and assessed more than a thousand of babies to learn the connection between the hyperactive immune system and such allergy development in infants.
The research was led by Dr. Yuxia Zhang, Professor Len Harrison, and Associate Professor Peter Vuillermin, and was published in the Science Translational Medicine journal, s reported by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. The study might also help in the development of treatment and prevention of food allergies among infants.
"We found a link between children who had hyperactive immune cells at birth and the development of allergies to milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat and other common foods in their first years of life," said Professor Harrison. The research involved the use of relevant information such as the immune system and allergy history of more than 1,000 pregnant women and their babies from Barwon, Victoria.
"We don't know why such increase in food allergy has occurred. The important thing about this study is that we've shown the immune systems of babies who develop food allergy are in a sense 'primed' for allergic disease by the time they are born," Vuillermin said.
Likewise, Harrison said that the next goal in their research is to study and learn the cause of hyperactive immune system in some babies. "Are the immune cells inherently activated because of the baby's genes or do they become activated at the time of birth or earlier in pregnancy?"
Food Allergy Research and Education shared some important tips on managing baby food allergy and children such as meticulously identifying and avoiding food sources of allergy, always bringing and learning the proper use of the prescribed medication for the allergy and carrying food allergy medical identification.
