A study led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) recently showed that certain gut bacteria found in one-month-old infants are associated with food sensitivities and the development of food allergies, particularly to eggs, while other types of bacteria are not. The study also found factors that predicted which type of bacteria would be present in the guts of newly born babies. Together, the findings suggest that certain probiotic supplements might be a good early defense for preventing food allergies, especially for at-risk infants. The study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Microbiota present in the gut soon after birth, which include bacteria, are known to help with normal development of the immune system and even protect against some diseases. However, research into the link between gut microbiota and food sensitivities and food allergies has produced mixed results. The new study tackled this problem by analyzing gut bacteria data from two separate groups of Japanese children for seven years, starting from birth. One was a high-risk group of 270 children from families with histories of allergies. The other was a group of 245 children from a previous study designed to test allergy treatments.
Food allergies happen when the body mistakes a protein in the food as dangerous and mounts an immune response to attack it. This immune response is in the form of the antibody called immunoglobulin E, or IgE for short, which comes in a number of varieties depending on