Journal
CURRENT ALLERGY AND ASTHMA REPORTS
Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages 325-333Publisher
CURRENT MEDICINE GROUP
DOI: 10.1007/s11882-011-0200-0
Keywords
Allergy prevention; Immune tolerance; Dietary immunomodulatory factors; Antioxidants; Complementary feeding; Folate; Vitamin D; Polyunsaturated fatty acids; Prebiotics; Probiotics
Categories
Funding
- Throne Holst Foundation
- National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
- Arla Foods
- SHS/Nutricia and Nestle
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Emerging evidence suggests that exposures during pregnancy and the early postnatal period can modify gene expression and disease propensity. Diet is a major environmental exposure, and dietary factors, including polyunsaturated fatty acids, probiotics, oligosaccharides, antioxidants, folate, and other vitamins, have effects on immune function. Some also have been implicated in reduced risk of allergy in observational studies. Intervention trials with polyunsaturated fatty acids, probiotics, and oligosaccharides suggest preliminary but as-of-yet-unconfirmed benefits. Food allergen avoidance during pregnancy, lactation, or infancy has provided no consistent evidence in allergy prevention and is no longer recommended. Rather, there is now a focus on food allergens in tolerance induction. Specific nutrients can induce changes in gene expression during early development and have been implicated in potentially heritable epigenetic changes in disease predisposition. Collectively, these observations emphasize that early exposures may modify tolerance development and that further research on these exposures should remain a priority.
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