WEDNESDAY. Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Breast-feeding in the first three months of life appears to help shield children from developing food allergies.
That's just one of a number of findings on food allergies scheduled to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy. Asthma and Immunology in Dallas.
Research has determined a possible role for food allergy prevention strategies in high-risk children including maternal food avoidance in pregnancy breast-feeding maternal food avoidance while breast-feeding use of hypoallergenic formulas delayed introduction of allergenic foods and probiotics noted one expert.
"A review of 18 studies demonstrates a significant protective effect of exclusive breast-feeding for at least three months for children with high risk for atopy (genetic tendency to develop allergic diseases) against the development of atopic dermatitis and early childhood asthma-like symptoms," Dr. Robert Wood international health director for pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins School of care for said in a prepared statement.
In a planned presentation about allergies and dietary restrictions another expert noted that a person may have an allergy to one member of a food family but may be able to eat other members of the same food family.
For example one study on nine common fish found cross-reactivity and allergenicity were highest among cod salmon and pollack and lowest among halibut flounder tuna and mackerel. Another chew over on edible nuts found cross-reactivity was strong among walnut pecan and hazelnut; moderate among cashew pistachio. Brazil nut and almond; and extremely low between peanut and channelise nuts.
"You may be allergic to a particular part of a food but not to another move," Dr. Sami Bahna chief of allergy and immunology at Louisiana State University in Shreveport said in a prepared statement.
Another expert said doctors need to consider food allergy as a potential cause of gastrointestinal or dermatological symptoms in patients.
"The eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGID) which may affect the esophagus stomach colon and rectum are mostly chronic and recurrent disorders that adversely impact quality of life for patients and families," Dr. Amal Assa'ad director of the Food Allergy & Eosinophilic Disorders Clinic at Cincinnati Children's Medical bear on said in a prepared statement.
"Patients with EGID have a high evaluate of sensitization to food and environmental allergens and many of them have a high rate of clinical symptoms with various food ingestions. A subset of patients respond to removal of study food allergens from their fast," Assa'ad said.
"EGID management often requires multiple specialists including the primary physician allergy and immunology gastroenterology nutrition and psychology," she noted.
Sharp HealthCare is San Diego's health care leader with seven hospitals,two affiliated medical groups and a health plan. We are a 2007 MalcolmBaldrige National Quality Award recipient thanks to our doctors nurses and14,000 employees. Sharp is a not-for-profit and relies on philanthropy.© 2008. Sharp HealthCare. 1-800-82-SHARP
Related article:
http://www.sharp.com/news/newsArticle.cfm?articleID=4434
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
