Peanut Consumption By Pregnant Moms Could Lead To Allergy

A new report published in the current edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology suggests that mothers who eat peanuts while pregnant may pass on an increased peanut sensitivity to their children.

According to lead researcher Dr. Scott H. Sicherer of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the number of peanuts consumed by mothers in the third trimester had a direct correlation to their child's nut sensitivity. "Researchers in recent years have been uncertain about the role of peanut consumption during pregnancy on the risk of peanut allergy in infants," Sicherer tells AolHealth.com. "While our study does not definitively indicate that pregnant women should not eat peanut products during pregnancy, it highlights the need for further research in order make recommendations about dietary restrictions."

For the study, Sicherer and his team tested 503 babies between the ages of three and 15-months-old. None of the babies were previously diagnosed with peanut sensitivities but 140 developed them, and peanut consumption on the part of the mother was a common trait among those babies.

Read the full article at RTT News - Click Here

Food allergy dangers addressed

Laurie Harada's 16-year-old son takes his life in his hands every time he eats. With severe allergies to a multitude of foods -- including peanuts, shellfish, chickpeas, split peas and soy -- Julian has to rely on food labels to warn him about the ingredients and other people to help should he fall into anaphylactic shock. "People like my son have to rely on the greater community for support," said Harada, executive director of Anaphylaxis Canada.

"But there are some people who still don't believe that allergies can be life-threatening," she said. Harada is in Victoria for a four-day conference of the Canadian Society of Allergists and Immunologists which starts today.

Victoria-based allergist Dr. Kingsley Lee said it is fair to regard severe allergies as diseases. Whether allergies cause something like asthma or severe anaphylactic shock in which a multitude of body systems react, the treatment is very much like treating a disease," he said.

"Disease doesn't necessarily mean it's something like the plague that's horribly infectious. We treat different things as allergists." Lee said the incidence of allergies is generally regarded as between two and four per cent of the population. But other data indicates it may be as high as eight per cent and rising.

Read the full article at Times Colonist - Click Here

Study shows babies born in autumn face higher risk of allergies

Children conceived in late winter or early spring are more at risk of suffering food allergies, say researchers. A ‘window’ of time between April and May when babies in the womb reach 11 weeks is linked to double the rate of allergies to common foods such as milk and eggs. It is thought exposure to high levels of tree pollen is responsible, in the period when babies are only beginning to develop antibodies.

Researchers say low levels of vitamin D in the mother following the winter could also play a part in reducing the immune defences of the unborn child. The babies most affected will be born around October or November.

Researchers studied almost 6,000 children born between April 2001 and March 2006 who lived in south-east Finland. Around 11 per cent of children whose 11th week of development in the womb was in April or May were more likely to suffer food allergies. This compared with six per cent of children whose 11th week was in December or January, says a report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Checks on pollen levels over the study period showed that levels of birch and alder pollen peaked during April and May.

Read the full article at Daily Mail - Click Here

more Allergy News