University of Alberta researchers are helping shed new light on the causes of food allergies.
A study carried out in partnership with the University of Manitoba identifies changes in the intestinal bacteria of babies that can predict allergy development.
Researchers found through stool samples that infants with fewer different types of bacteria at three months are more likely to develop sensitization to milk, eggs and peanuts by age one.
A portion of those same children will go on to develop other ailments like eczema or asthma.
"Food sensitization doesn’t mean the infant will develop food allergy or eczema or asthma, but it is a predictor," said the study’s senior author Anita Kozyrskyj, a U of A professor in the department of pediatrics.
"Up to 30 per cent of infants can become sensitized to foods at one year, but not all of them develop full-blown food allergies."
Researchers assessed samples from 166 babies enrolled in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study after birth, at three months, and again at one year.
The infants were tested for sensitivities using a skin prick at one year.
Kozyrskyj also found babies who developed sensitivities had higher levels of two specific types of bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Bacteroidaceae.
"All infants have these bacteria but just in different ratios," she said.
The findings were published in the February edition of the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy.
The study’s ultimate goal is to find ways to alter bacteria and better treat or prevent allergy and disease.
Researchers will look into ways bacteria can be altered by breastfeeding, by mothers receiving antibiotics, and by the way the baby is delivered — for example, C-section births reduce certain types of bacteria.
"Many things can happen by the time an infant is three months of age to change the pattern of their gut microbiota. So if we know that these patterns are not innocuous, that they actually are predicting some future risk of disease, there are opportunities to start to look for ways to modify them," Kozyrskyj said.
Researchers will expand their sample size as further data comes in from other children in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto, with a goal of including 2,500 across Canada.
The study will follow the kids as they grow, examining results again age three and five.
Kozyrskyj said this is the most extensive study of its kind.