New Allergy Link In Children Discovered

Australian researchers have discovered that food allergies in children are linked to a hyperactive immune system at birth.

Analysis of cord blood from more than 1,000 infants has shown that children who have a hyperactive immune system when they are born are more likely to develop food allergies in their first year of life.

As reported in the Science Translational Medicine Journal, an “immune signature” has been uncovered by Australian researchers in the cord blood of children with clinical signs of food allergies at 12 months old.

While at present it cannot be proven that the heightened immune response at birth caused food allergies, Professor Len Harrison of the Walter & Eliza hall Institute and one of the study’s authors, said it “clearly differentiated these children from the rest,”

“This study really emphasises how critical it is to look at pregnancy and early life to really understand why chronic immune and inflammatory disorders such as allergies develop in childhood and later,” Professor Harrison said.

Recent decades have seen a rise in childhood food allergies, with most of the increase seen in children under the age of five.

Professor Harrison said the discovery could have implications for the development of a screening test for children at risk, “but the most important thing is to figure out what causes this and to change those circumstances”.

“I think the likelihood of a [genetically inherited abnormality] being the sole cause of this phenomenon is low,” he said. “I think it is more likely to be acquired somehow.

“One of the reasons for that is that the incidence of food allergy has increased considerably in the last 20 or 30 years or so, and really that can only be due to environment.”

Researchers are also investigating whether other environmental factors, such as infection of the placenta or amniotic fluid, the influence of the mother or baby’s gut microbiome, or the nutritional status of the mother may play a role.

Image source: Getty Images

22 Comments

- - meedee said
  - 05 Nov 2021
    11:58 am
Its very odd that there are so many kids with allergies now. It was not like this when I was a kid….why?

- - Ellen said
  - 12 Sep 2017
    2:15 am
Interesting ! Would be good if it can be proved that the heightened immune response at birth is causing food allergies indeed.

- - mom101628 said
  - 02 Jan 2017
    11:53 pm
It will be interesting to find out the final results of this research.

- - storm7 said
  - 08 Feb 2016
    12:16 pm
Interesting, there are way to many allergies these days they certainly need to look into it more.

- - serotonin said
  - 06 Feb 2016
    6:08 pm
Very interesting. I have wondered why some people are allergic to such things as peanuts while others can eat anything. Will be great when a definite answer is found.

- - june11 said
  - 30 Jan 2016
    11:20 pm
If only it was easier to find the causes we could avoid contact with the culprits.
There are sometimes a combination of slight allergies that can cause problems.

- - ella12 said
  - 27 Jan 2016
    4:09 pm
Thank you for sharing this Julia.

- - mom64736 said
  - 18 Jan 2016
    11:49 pm
As a parent to a child with allergies I am always reading into the research. it fascinates me how little they really know about it all.

- - rovermum said
  - 18 Jan 2016
    9:29 am
More research required.

- - mum4107 said
  - 18 Jan 2016
    5:03 am
Very interesting. What a breakthrough it would be if they could stop these allergies

- - mom74640 said
  - 15 Jan 2016
    11:20 am
Lke hf

- - Nas01 said
  - 15 Jan 2016
    11:09 am
It’s hard when children have food allergies.

- - taynik46 said
  - 15 Jan 2016
    8:40 am
as a mother of a child who has had a food allergy these sorts of investigations are a positive step in helping other families try to avoid having children with food allergies – it would be especially good if they could work on the more serious ones like nut allergies!
- mom94125 replied
  
  18 Jan 2016 , 5:13 pm
  i am sure that they will get there one day, so that many more people can have “normal” lifestyles and diets
- - mom94125 said
  - 15 Jan 2016
    8:35 am
it seems like they are making some progress to understand it. more people with this allergy thing because there are more people walking the planet than ever before?

- - curlytops said
  - 14 Jan 2016
    10:18 pm
Do you have any more information on this?

- - mom101628 said
  - 14 Jan 2016
    10:06 pm
Hopefully this research will assist in stopping these allergies in littlies.

- - pakeko said
  - 14 Jan 2016
    8:30 pm
What a great read this is worth looking into

- - mom93821 said
  - 14 Jan 2016
    8:03 pm
An area of interest and thanks for the article. Will investigate further.

- - rachelvk said
  - 14 Jan 2016
    4:04 pm
An interesting article. It would be great if this research helps to avoid allergies.

- - mom165081 said
  - 14 Jan 2016
    3:01 pm
Research in this area will help so many. Allergies that cause hospitalisation are quite scary.