Baby wipes linked to food allergies

SCIENTISTS HAVE found a link between food allergies in children and the use of baby wipes.

A US study found genetics and skin exposure to baby wipes, dust and food are all factors behind increasing levels of children with food allergies. Lead study author Joan Cook-Mills, a professor of allergy-immunology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, described the findings as a “major advance in our understanding of how food allergy starts early in life”.

Almost one in 12 young children suffer from a food allergy in the UK and they are becoming increasingly common. Prof CookMills said the findings show parents and care-givers can reduce the risk of food allergies in children by making simple changes in the home.

She said: “Reduce baby’s skin exposure to the food allergens by washing your hands before handling the baby.

“Limit use of infant wipes that leave soap on the skin. Rinse soap off with water like we used to do years ago.”

Researchers said clinical evidence shows that up to 35 per cent of children with food allergies have atopic dermatitis, much of which is explained by at least three different gene mutations that reduce the skin barrier.

They used a neonatal mouse model with skin barrier mutations and tried exposing its skin to food allergens like peanuts, finding the peanuts alone had no effect.

The findings are published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.