Common allergies linked to antibiotic use in infancy, health researchers say
Most Common Allergies
Speaking on the groundbreaking research, Professor Dr Stuart Turvey said: “It’s important to understand why this is happening and how it can be prevented.”
The professor, in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of British Columbia, conducted a new study for this very reason.
In the research project, a total of 1,115 children had their stool samples collected via clinical visits at three months and one year of age.
These stool samples enabled the researchers to study the participants’ gut microbiome.
Researchers continued to monitor the health of the children up to the age of five, when more than half (592) had developed at least one allergy.
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“We’re seeing more and more children and families seeking help at the emergency department due to allergies,” said Dr Turvey.
Co-author, Dr Charisse Petersen, noted that no matter the allergy, at the cellular level, there are a lot of similarities.
Elaborating, fellow researcher – and doctoral candidate – Courtney Hoskinson said: “Typically, our bodies tolerate the millions of bacteria living in our guts because they do so many good things for our health.
“Some of the ways we tolerate them are by keeping a strong barrier between them and our immune cells.
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“And by limiting inflammatory signals that would call those immune cells into action.”
Hoskinson added: “We found a common breakdown in these mechanisms in babies prior to the development of allergies.”
Dr Turvey explained: “From these data we can see that factors such as antibiotic usage in the first year of life are more likely to result in later allergic disorders.”
Antibiotics are thought to wipe out sensitive bacteria in the gut microbiome.
Notably, Dr Turvey said breastfeeding for the first six months of life had a “protective” effect.
Breastfeeding is thought to replenish and provide the necessary food for bacteria in the gut.
And, no matter the allergy studied, the findings about antibiotics and breastfeeding were “universal”.
Dr Turvey added: “There are a lot of potential insights from this robust analysis.
“Developing therapies that change these interactions during infancy may therefore prevent the development of all sorts of allergic diseases in childhood, which often last a lifetime.”
Dr Turvey and his research colleagues have published their study in the journal Nature Communications.
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