Preventing Allergies

One of the most controversial issues in medicine and pediatrics today is how to address the significant rise in childhood allergies in the developed world. Some of the allergies are extremely severe (like anaphylactic peanut allergies). The challenge with allergies is the seemingly contradictory data – on the one hand, you hear stories about how kids who grow up on pig farms never have allergies (because they are exposed so thoroughly to every kind of potential allergen there is), and how the rise of allergies may be correlated with the increasingly “sterile” environments that kids grow up in – antibacterial soaps, disinfecting wipes, etc. On the other hand, most research indicates that allergic responses can only occur after exposure to allergens, and that introducing foods slowly tends to correlate with fewer food allergies. One ongoing study is looking at the peanut allergy issue and giving pregnant moms daily exposure to nuts through a candy bar – so it is really hard to tell what is an effective strategy for new parents to minimize the chance of allergies.

We asked one of our friends, who is a doctor and allergist, what she would do with her kids. She is at UCSF and one of her more interesting recommendations was to take probiotics. The most common probiotic is lactobacillus acidophilus, which many people take to prevent traveler’s diarrhea and for general gastrointestinal health. However, the most commonly researched probiotic is lactobacillus GG – a patented probiotic strain. Some medical articles (for those so inclined, otherwise, just skip to the conclusion) that may be of interest are:

J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1997 Feb;99(2):179-85. Probiotics: a novel approach in the management of food allergy. Majamaa H, Isolauri E.

PMID: 9042042

J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003 Feb;111(2):389-95. Effect of probiotic Lactobacillus strains in children with atopic dermatitis. Rosenfeldt

V, Benfeldt E, Nielsen SD, Michaelsen KF, Jeppesen DL, Valerius NH, Paerregaard A. PMID: 12589361

Lancet. 2001 Apr 7;357(9262):1076-9. Probiotics in primary prevention of atopic disease: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Kalliomaki M, Salminen S, Arvilommi H, Kero P, Koskinen P, Isolauri E. PMID: 11297958

The basic idea is that probiotics seem to stimulate a complementary part of the immune system that ends up preventinig allergic reactions. In the studies above, mothers who took probiotics while pregnant and continued through breastfeeding (or who added the probiotic to formula) had babies with significantly lower incidence of eczema, one of the most common allergic reactions in kids. So, we’ve started taking a daily dose of the probiotic lactobacillus GG, which is sold under the brand name Culturelle.

Apart from taking probiotics, the standard recommendation is to avoid highly allergenic foods, such as peanuts and tree nuts. So, for now, we are doing so – the idea being that if the baby is never exposed to nuts, she can’t develop an allergic reaction to them. However, we are making sure not to create an overly sterile environment for Lily, so we’ve made sure that none of our soaps are antibacterial, and we aren’t too anal about keeping the house spotless.

With the medical consensus still very much being formed with regard to allergies, we’re pretty content just doing the best we can, and hoping for the best. We hope our thoughts help you!