Exclusively breastfeeding infants for first 4 months may lower risk for food allergy
Key takeaways:
- Exclusively breastfed infants had lower odds for egg, sesame and peanut allergies.
- Certain infants with delayed exposure to sesame had increased odds for developing sesame allergy.
Exclusively breastfeeding for the first 4 months may reduce the risk for IgE-mediated food allergy among infants, according to study results published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
“IgE-mediated food allergy is a major global health concern,” Nadira Musallam, MD, of the division of allergy and clinical immunology at Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, and colleagues wrote. “While early introduction of allergenic foods and breastfeeding are potential preventive strategies, the role of breast milk in reducing food allergy incidence remains inconclusive.”
Musallam and colleagues sought to assess and compare the impact of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 4 months vs. partial breastfeeding or cow’s milk formula on the development of IgE-mediated food allergies among a cohort of 3,030 mothers who provided complete infant feeding data for the first 4 months.
Researchers administered an online questionnaire to collect comprehensive data on early feeding practices and associated factors.
Most women (48.9%) partially breastfed (breast milk and cow’s milk), followed by 39% who exclusively breastfed and 12.1% who used cow’s milk formula.
Results showed that 14% (n = 425) of infants experienced food allergies, of which 71.3% (n = 303) had one food allergen. These included cow’s milk (41.6%), sesame (26.4%), egg (23.1%) and peanut (8.9%). Further, 19.3% of infants experienced allergies to two food allergens, 8.5% to three food allergens and 0.94% to four food allergens.
Overall, 392 infants experienced 480 individual food allergies caused by cow’s milk, sesame, egg or peanut. Among them, 74.6% occurred in the partially breastfed and cow’s milk formula groups, and 25.4% occurred in the breastfed only group.
Compared with infants in the partially breastfed and cow’s milk formula groups, those in the exclusively breastfed group experienced lower odds for egg (OR = 0.53), sesame (OR = 0.58) and peanut allergy (OR = 0.53).
Of note, infants with atopic dermatitis with delayed exposure to sesame experienced increased odds for developing sesame allergy.
“Infants exposed to cow’s milk in the nursery and those who later breastfed exclusively had higher odds of developing cow’s milk allergy,” Musallam and colleagues wrote. “Moreover, our findings support the expansion of early allergen introduction guidelines to include sesame, particularly in regions with a high prevalence of sesame allergy.”
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