Reactions during breastfeeding may signal allergies later in life

Symptoms of allergic reaction to certain foods during breastfeeding may signal a child’s food allergies later in life, data presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology showed.

Abigail T. Lang, MD, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and colleagues assessed data from the Chicago Food Allergy Survey from 2005 through 2011 on infants’ reactions to three foods consumed by their mothers — 50 children were allergic to peanuts, 69 were allergic to eggs and 153 were allergic to cow’s milk.

"Infants reactive to peanuts via indirect exposure in breastmilk might represent a group with lower likelihood of becoming tolerant to peanuts,” Lang told Healio, because all 50 children with peanut-associated symptoms never gained tolerance.

However, there were no significant associations between symptoms from breastfeeding among the egg and milk groups (egg, OR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.21-1.01; and milk, OR = 1.13; 95% CI 0.7-1.81), although all 69 participants with an egg allergy had multiple food allergies, whereas those who had milk and peanut allergies were not more likely to have multiple food allergies (milk, OR = 1.89; 95% CI 0.88-4.02; and peanut, OR = 2.36; 95% CI, 0.72-7.76).

“It's important to note that current recommendations do not support maternal avoidance of any foods during pregnancy or breastfeeding to prevent the development of food allergies,” Lang said.