2023-08-01 13:20:22
According to French researchers, introducing certain allergenic products following the age of 10 months might increase the risk of allergies in children.
The first years of a child’s life are filled with discoveries: the first steps, the first words and, of course, the first tastes. This culinary exploration plays an essential role for health, as it influences the onset of food allergies later in life.
In France in particular, it is estimated that 6% to 8% of children develop an allergy during the first five years of their life, this prevalence having been on the rise in recent years. Faced with the concern of parents and doctors, researchers are trying to understand the origins of this increase in order to put in place preventive strategies. A French study published in the journal Allergy highlights the role of early dietary diversification for children.
New measures
This work, carried out by INRAe researchers in collaboration with the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Statistics (Cress), INED and the University Hospital of Nancy, assessed the impact of the delay in food diversification on the development of allergies. Until 2005, it was advised to avoid eggs before age 2 and to delay the introduction of peanuts or seafood until age 3. But, in response to several studies suggesting a link between late food diversification and the risk of food allergies, Public Health France had issued new recommendations in 2021: parents were therefore invited to introduce all food groups between 4 and 6 months, including allergenic foods, such as animal (egg, fish, milk) and vegetable (peanut, wheat, etc.) proteins. However, the effect of these new measures had not been evaluated. This is what this new French study has just done.
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In order to confirm these recommendations, the researchers analyzed the eating habits of more than 6,600 babies aged 2 months, who had not shown any allergic symptoms so far. « We tracked how many allergen groups among eggs, fish, dairy and wheat each child consumed before 10 month. We counted those who, at 5 years, had developed an allergy, which allowed us to estimate the risk of food allergy according to the age of introduction of allergenic foods », explains Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain, director of the Center for Epidemiology and Statistics Research at the Sorbonne and co-author of the study. For follow-up, the researchers asked the parents to indicate, in questionnaires, the foods consumed each month by their child until he was 10 months old.
Result: only 62% of the children had started their food diversification between the ages of 4 and 6 months. Children who had not been exposed to at least two of the allergen groups before 10 months had a twice as high risk of developing food allergies until the age of 5, which affected regarding one in ten children. « This result is problematic because it shows that delaying the introduction of certain food groups is potentially harmful. », comments Jocelyne Just, professor emeritus and pulmonologist-allergist at the American Hospital in Paris.
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« Parents on the front line »
Once established, a food allergy manifests itself in different ways from one child to another, ranging from digestive disorders to eczema flare-ups. However, some more serious reactions, such as severe asthma attack or theangioedema, with life-threatening consequences if left unchecked. In all cases, the quality of life of the child remains strongly impacted. If the allergy is mild, it may be reversible with desensitization, which consists of reintroducing increasing doses of the allergen in question into the diet. ” But this usually only concerns animal proteinswarns Professor Just. In terms of peanuts or nuts, that is to say allergens of plant origin, the allergy is generally persistent. The allergist also points out that, even for animal proteins, the later the reintroduction, the lower the chances of curing the allergy.
Even if certain genetic predispositions to allergies exist, this study demonstrates that food diversification is a factor on which it is possible to act. ” We hope that these results will encourage parents to diversify their baby’s diet early, because they are on the front line to prevent this allergic risk. But, for that, it is important to better inform them regarding these recommendations, which remain too little known at the present time. », stresses Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain.
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