Common Origin Discovered for Childhood Allergies
A recent study published in Nature Communications on August 29, 2023, has pointed out that several major childhood allergies may originate from the community of bacteria living in our gut. The research has been conducted at the University of British Columbia and BC Children's Hospital. The study identifies gut microbiome that may be associated with children developing any of four most common allergies: eczema, asthma, food allergy, and allergic rhinitis. The results may bring new ways of predicting future allergies in children and how to prevent them from appearing.
For the study, researchers examined clinical assessments from 1,115 children. They tracked these children from birth to the age of five. Half of the children did not show evidences of allergies at any time, while the other half were diagnosed with one or more allergy disorders by an allergy doctor. Researchers evaluated the children's microbiomes from stool samples collected at clinical visits. These samples revealed that there was a bacterial signature associated with children developing one of the targeted allergies. This signature is a hallmark of dysbiosis, an imbalanced gut microbiota from compromised intestinal lining. The inflammatory response in the gut caused by the bacterial imbalance was the ultimate factor in developing the allergy.
Many factors impact gut microbiota: diet, birth features, environment and antibiotics exposure. Antibiotics may wipe out sensitive bacteria, while breastfeeding replenishes and nourishes healthy bacteria in the gut. Researchers expect to leverage these findings to inform proper treatments for infants and even prevent allergies from appearing at all in early age.
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