The protective effect of breast-feeding on asthma and allergy has been debated for more than 60 years without any hope of a consensus. A major problem is the lack of randomized controlled trials. However, breast-feeding has a number of other benefits and should be recommended irrespective of any effect on asthma or allergy. This is why randomized trials are not considered ethical. Thus, we have to rely on observational studies, which have produced conflicting results. Mothers who do or do not breastfeed differ in several environmental exposures, including socio-economic class, smoking and area of living, which influence indoor and outdoor exposure to pollutants. Despite statistical adjustment for these confounding factors, the evidence is never as robust as it would be with an randomized controlled trial. (more…)
Breast milk contains a variety of bioactive substances, among them soluble CD14 (sCD14), which plays an important role in innat ...
The prevalence of atopic dermatitis is increasing in Western societies. The hygiene hypothesis proposes that this is due to red ...
The prevalence of asthma increases with increasing levels of Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE). However, the effect of early-l ...
If the breast-fed baby is lactose intolerant (usually a temporary condition following intestinal infection at this age), moth ...
Avoidance of any one of the individual risk factors associated with childhood asthma has not been successful in preventing its deve ...