Food allergies may be acquired before birth, a major conference has been told.
Australian researchers have reported how environmental changes in pregnancy could "programme" babies to suffer from allergies.
Their work was being reported at the World Allergy & Asthma Congress in Milan, Italy.
David Martino and team from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, told delegates: "This means food allergies are not acquired after birth or at a later stage in life, but children are born with allergies due to specific environmental factors during pregnancy."
Experts say rising rates of allergy and asthma make finding the causes increasingly urgent.
Professor Cezmi Akdis, president of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, said: “Allergies and asthma are rising sharply. There is a clear correlation between increasing wealth and standard of living and allergies and asthma.
"That is why we see the strongest increase in emerging countries."
And Professor Ruby Pawankar, president of the World Allergy Organisation, added: “With the increasing severity and complexity of allergic diseases as societies become affluent and especially in children, the major need lies in finding out at what stage allergies and asthma are acquired and how these diseases can be prevented.
"This is especially so as an increasing number of people are already born with a predisposition despite generally better living conditions."
Leave a Reply