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Mom's Diet linked to Baby's Allergies



One of the many benefits of breastfeeding is that breastmilk has several different immunoglobulins that help protect infants from various kinds of allergies.  Until recently, what was not known, was if a breastfeeding mother's diet would affect the relationship between breastfeeding and allergies.

Researchers from the University of Turku, Finland recently revealed the results of their study that showed breastfed infants whose mothers ate a diet high in total and saturated fat were more likely than other breastfed babies to develop allergies.

One hundred and fourteen babies with a family history of common allergies were studied.  Mothers kept a record of their diet for four days when their babies were about 3 months old.  The researchers found that 23.7 percent of babies became sensitive to things such as eggs, milk wheat and cats by age 1.  They also found that infants whose mothers consumed high-fat diets were 16 percent more likely to develop allergies than breastfed infants whose mothers ate diets high in carbohydrates.

"Maternal intake of saturated fat during breastfeeding was associated with a topic sensitization of the infant," the researchers reported in the September issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000;54:702-705).

The researchers recommend that women in families prone to common allergies moderate their dietary fat intake during breastfeeding and pregnancy, since a diet high in saturate fat is generally an unbalanced diet.