Breast milk helps to ward off allergies, say experts

BREASTFEEDING MAY help to protect infants against food allergies, a study has shown.

But first, mothers have to consume the foods that commonly trigger allergic reactions, such as eggs and peanuts, the findings suggest.

Scientists found that pregnant mice fed allergy-provoking foods transferred protective antibodies to their offspring through breast milk. The antibodies, key immune system proteins, caused the babies to generate T-cell blood cells that allowed them to tolerate the allergenic foods. Tests involving human breast milk suggest that the same mechanism can protect human babies.

Lead scientist Dr Mkichiko Oyoshi, from Boston Children’s Hospital in the US, said: “Whether mothers should eat allergenic foods during pregnancy or avoid them has been controversial.

“Different studies have found different results, in part because it’s hard in human studies to know when mothers and babies first encountered a specific food. But in a mouse model, we can control exposure to food.”

Breast milk containing antiallergy antibodies was protective even when fed to offspring unrelated to the mother, the researchers found. In other experiments, mother mice that had never consumed allergenic foods were given food-specific antibodies from other mothers. Their breast milk also turned out to protect against allergies. Exposure to allergens in the womb had some effect, but this was enhanced by breast milk, said the scientists.