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Patients & Consumers Online Tools Find an Allergist / Immunologist Pollen Counts Diseases 101 Drug Guide Featured Resources » AAAAI Tips Brochures Topic of the Month Information Request Form Donate Now Constituencies » Patients & Consumers Contact Search by Condition (A-Z) Request a Speaker Smoke Free Homes Referral Guidelines Breakthroughs in Bioscience Other Resources En Español Just for Kids Seniors		Allergy & Asthma Advocate: Winter 2008 The studies summarized below appeared in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Breastfeeding and atopic disease: A study from childhood to middle-age Research findings on the association between breastfeeding and allergic diseases have been contradictory. In the November issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Melanie Claire Matheson, BSc, MAppSc, PhD, and colleagues follow an Australian cohort from childhood to middle-age and assess the relationship between breastfeeding and later allergic disease. This study was conducted within the 36-year follow-up of the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study, which is a collaboration between The University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania. The authors found that exclusively breastfed babies with a maternal history of allergy were less likely to develop asthma before age 7 but more likely to develop asthma after age 7. The authors support the current recommendation to breastfeed high risk infants for protection against early asthma. Early day care attendance may protect infants from later developing asthma In the November issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Janet Rothers, MS, and colleagues examine the relationship between the age at which day care attendance begins and the amount of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in a child’s blood. IgE is an antibody produced by the immune system and an indicator of allergic sensitivity. Researchers found: Children who went to day care by 3 months of age had lowered IgE levels. The IgE levels of day care children remained low through age 3 years, but this protection appeared to be limited to children whose mothers have asthma or a family history of susceptibility to allergy. Children who attended day care outside their own home had lower IgE levels than those who attended day care in their own home with children not their siblings, or than children who didn’t attend day care. The authors speculate that regular exposure to bacteria from two different environments may play a role in immune development and supports the idea that there may be a critically short period when such bacterial exposure can guide the immature immune system to develop on a healthy path.   <back>
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