Researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Australia have discovered a link between food allergy in infants and asthma with diminished lung function in later childhood years. The researchers believe their findings may help physicians be more vigilant regarding the respiratory health of young children dealing with food allergies.
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health estimates that around 5% of children below the age of five suffer from food allergies, with the prevalence of allergies among children under the age of 18 increasing by 18% from 1997 to 2007.
Furthermore, asthma affects around 6 million children below the age of 18 in America. Black children are more than two times more likely to develop asthma at 16% compared to White children at 7%. Researchers have found that children who develop both asthma and food allergies in early childhood are more likely to exhibit reduced lung function in later childhood.
The researchers were part of the HealthNuts study, a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study on the effects of early childhood allergies on well-being and health during adolescence. The rate of food allergies has been growing in Western nations, including the United States. which has a prevalence rate of 1 in 13 children, and Australia with the highest rate of childhood food allergy in the globe at more than 10% of infants.
Researchers gave one-year-old children skin prick tests and oral food challenges to determine if they were allergic to egg, sesame, peanut, cow’s milk or shrimp and asked their parents to fill out questionnaires on their children’s demographic characteristics, environmental exposures and history of allergies.
The children then had a follow-up assessment at age six that involved skin prick tests to check allergies for egg, milk, peanut, soy, sesame, wheat, cashew, shrimp, hazelnut, and almond. The children also went through skin prick tests to check for airborne allergens such as cat and dog hair, cladasporium, fungi alternaria, fust miles, birch mix, ryegrass and Bermuda grass as well as lung function tests and oral food challenges.
The lung function tests included forced responsiveness to bronchodilators, vital capacity and forced expiratory volume. These tests are used to measure lung function and check for the presence of respiratory conditions such as asthma. These tests were followed by a questionnaire about the child’s demographics and respiratory and allergy history.
The research team found that infants with food allergies were nearly four times more likely to develop asthma at age six compared to children who didn’t have an allergy, with children whose allergies lasted until age six having the highest likelihood of developing asthma. Furthermore, children who developed food allergies were more likely to exhibit diminished lung function in late childhood.
Given that the roots of childhood asthma are now being traced to prior food allergies, the immunotherapies for asthma and other autoimmune conditions that enterprises such as BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: BVXV) are developing could be of immense help in rolling back these illnesses by resetting the immune system.
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