Most common childhood allergies originate in the gut, scientists believe

Scientists may have identified the source of the most common childhood allergies, including eczema, asthma, food allergies and hay fever.

All of this may be related to the gut microbiome, the community of microbes (bacteria, fungi and viruses) that live in your digestive system, a new study suggests.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to ways to predict whether children will develop allergies, as well as ways to prevent them, the researchers said.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia and the Children’s Hospital of British Columbia (Canada) have found that characteristics of the gut microbiome and early life influences are associated with the development of these four common allergies.

Although allergies have their own symptoms, the researchers wanted to see if they had a common origin related to babies’ gut microbiomes.

Dr. Charisse Petersen, co-senior author of the paper, said that while allergies are technically distinct diagnoses, at the cellular level “They actually have a lot in common. “

The researchers analyzed clinical assessments of 1,115 children who were followed from birth to five years. About half of them were free of allergic symptoms at any time, but 592 were diagnosed with one or more allergic diseases by doctors.

gut microbiome imbalance

By studying stool samples collected at clinic visits at three months and one year of age, they identified bacterial signatures associated with children who developed allergies at age five.

Bacterial signatures are hallmarks of an imbalanced gut microbiome, which can lead to damage to the gut lining and heightened inflammation in the gut.

“Normally, our bodies are able to tolerate the millions of bacteria living in our gut because of their many benefits to our health. Some of the ways we tolerate them include maintaining a strong barrier between them and our immune cells, and limiting the inflammatory signals that prompt these immune cells to do their work.,” explains Courtney Hoskinson, a UBC doctoral student and lead author of the article.

“We found that these mechanisms are generally defective in infants before allergies develop.”

The cause of this imbalance can be attributed to a variety of factors, such as diet, how the baby is born, where you live, and your exposure to medications such as antibiotics. Antibiotics kill sensitive bacteria, and breastfeeding is known to replenish the bacteria in a baby’s gut and provide it with essential food.

Dr Stuart Turvey, professor of pediatrics at UBC and co-senior author of the study, said: “This robust analysis can provide many insights. “

“We can see from these data that factors such as antibiotic use in the first year of life are more likely to contribute to later allergic disease, whereas breastfeeding for the first six months is protective. This is common across all diseases exist. The allergic patients we studied”.

The researchers hope to use these results to find treatments to correct gut microbiome imbalances.

Hundreds of millions of children around the world suffer from allergies, which can have serious health and psychological consequences.

As well as the obvious health risks, the British allergy charity explains that allergies can affect children’s health in many other ways, including fear of a possible anaphylaxis, worry about using epinephrine auto-injectors, food aversions and sleep deprivation.