Probiotic use during pregnancy and lactation was associated with a
22 percent lower risk of young children developing eczema, a common
inflammatory skin disorder, the study found. This is the equivalent
of preventing 44 cases of eczema for every 1,000 children.
While the study wasn’t designed to prove how probiotics might
prevent eczema, it’s possible that taking these supplements changes
the composition of breast milk and influences the way a child’s
immune system and skin develop, said senior study author Dr. Robert
Boyle of Imperial College London and the University of Nottingham in
the UK.
“There was already some evidence that probiotic exposure in early
life may reduce risk of eczema in an infant,” Boyle said by email.
“But this study makes it clearer that maternal probiotics during
pregnancy and while breastfeeding seem to protect infants from
eczema, whereas probiotics added to an infant's diet directly do not
seem to protect infants from developing eczema,” Boyle added.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 400 studies
including a total of about 1.5 million people.
There were 28 trials of probiotic use during pregnancy that involved
about 6,000 women.
Probiotics include good bacteria and yeast that are similar to
what’s in the body and help aid digestive tract health. Most of the
trials focused on the bacteria lactobacillus, a common probiotic in
yogurt and other fermented foods.
These studies found a reduced eczema risk for kids when their
mothers took probiotics during the final weeks of pregnancy and the
first six months of breastfeeding.
Avoiding potentially allergenic foods like nuts, dairy and eggs
during pregnancy didn’t appear to influence a child’s risk of
eczema, the study also found.
Another supplement, fish oil, was associated with a lower risk of
egg allergies in kids.
Researchers looked at 19 trials of fish oil supplements during
pregnancy, involving about 15,000 people. They found fish oil
supplements associated with a 31 percent lower risk of egg allergies
in kids, or an absolute reduction of 31 cases out of every 1,000
children.
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These fish oil supplements contained omega-3 fatty acids, and women
took them throughout the second half of pregnancy and the first
three to four months of breastfeeding. Omega-3 fatty acids have
anti-inflammatory properties and may be transferred from mothers to
babies in breast milk.
One limitation of the current study is that the small trials in the
analysis varied in duration, how they assessed mothers’ diets and
supplement use, and how they determined whether children developed
allergies or eczema, the authors note in PLoS Medicine.
Even so, the results add to evidence that dietary exposures may
influence the development of allergic and autoimmune diseases, said
Dr. Ola Didrik Saugstad, a pediatrics researcher at the University
of Oslo in Norway who wasn’t involved in the study.
Breastfeeding duration also plays a role, however, Saugstad said by
email.
“There are many factors which may interplay with diet such as
breastfeeding and whether it is exclusive, and how long it
continues.”
Reducing the risk of eczema, food allergies and wheezing or asthma
is one of the many reasons doctors advise women to exclusively
breastfeed babies for at least four to six months, Saugstad added.
While some women may want to consider taking fish oil or probiotics
to lower the risk of allergies and eczema in their children, studies
to date don’t offer a clear picture of the ideal formulation and
dose of these supplements for use during pregnancy, said Maria
Jenmalm, an allergy researcher at Linkoping University in Sweden who
wasn’t involved in the study. Jenmalm has received payments for
lectures and consulting from BioGaia AB and Nutricia/Danone.
“I believe further research is required to be able to translate
these findings into practice guidelines,” Jenmalm said by email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2oI9qm7 PLoS Medicine, online February 28,
2018.
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