Re: [pronut-hiv] BCC: Breast milk 'may be allergy key' (2)

["Rachel Stern" <sternworks@verizon.net>]

I'm happy for the mice.

Rachel Stern

----- "ProNut-HIV" wrote:
Subject: [pronut-hiv] BCC: Breast milk 'may be allergy key'


> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7208941.stm 
> 
> BBC: Monday, 28 January 2008
> 
> A study may have discovered why breastfeeding might help protect
> children against allergies such as asthma, scientists have said. 
> The French research, published in Nature Medicine, shows female mice
> exposed to allergens can pass them directly to their offspring in milk.
> 
> This allows the newborns to become "tolerant" of the substance. 
> However, in humans, the link between breastfeeding and reduced asthma
> risk remains unproven, say experts. 
> 
> 
> There is some research evidence that being breastfed lowers the risk of
> becoming asthmatic but other studies have failed to find this. 
> More than 300 million people worldwide have allergic asthma and some
> scientists believe exposure to allergens, or a lack of exposure, at a
> very young age may be important in its development. 
> Asthma happens when the body's own immune system recognises as
> "foreign" a common and harmless substance found in the environment, such
> as dust mite faeces. 
> When this substance is inhaled, the immune reaction can cause
> inflammation in the airways, narrowing them and making it harder to
> breathe. 
> For many sufferers, this can mean a lifetime of drugs, both to damp
> down the immune reaction and to re-open their constricted airways during
> an attack. 
> The researchers, from the INSERM institute in France, used an allergen
> called ovalbumin - a protein found in egg whites. 
> They allowed the mothers of newborn mice to breathe in the protein but
> not their offspring. 
> Tests confirmed the allergen was then transferred to the baby mice via
> breast milk and that the baby mice developed an immune system tolerance
> to it. 
> This effect happened independently of the mother's own immune system. 
> Current advice 
> The researchers wrote: "This study may pave the way for the design of
> new strategies to prevent the development of allergic diseases." 
> Sally Rose, an asthma nurse specialist at Asthma UK, said: 'While some
> research does suggest that breastfeeding may help reduce the chance of
> babies developing allergic conditions such as asthma, there are other
> studies that contradict this. 
> "Because breastfeeding provides many proven benefits for babies,
> current advice from the Department of Health, which Asthma UK supports,
> is that, where possible, babies should be exclusively breastfed for the
> first six months of life." 
> Dr Charles McSharry, an immunologist from Glasgow University, said the
> research did offer a theory as to why breastfeeding might be beneficial
> in humans. 
> However, he said comparing the immune reactions of mice and humans was
> difficult. 
> "It is far more difficult to induce the kind of immune tolerance they
> have achieved in mice in humans, which is a key difference," he said.