Despite several intervention trials involving modifications to the maternal diet , the effect of maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation in preventing food allergy remains unclear .
Summary Earlier introduction of allergenic foods is a promising intervention to reduce the risk of some food allergies in high-risk infants .
Purpose of review In the past decade , food allergy has been increasingly recognized as an important public health issue .
The role of maternal and infant diet in the development of food allergy has been a major focus of research throughout this period .
Recently , research in this area has moved from observational studies to intervention trials , and the findings from these trials have started to influence infant feeding guidelines .
In this article , we review recent studies of dietary interventions for preventing food allergy , summarize current knowledge and discuss future research directions .
Randomized controlled trial of early regular egg intake to prevent egg allergy
Background : The ideal age to introduce egg into the infant diet has been debated for the past 2 decades in the context of rising rates of egg allergy . Objective : We sought to determine whether regular consumption of egg protein from age 4 to 6 months reduces the risk of IgE‐mediated egg allergy in infants with hereditary risk , but without eczema . Methods : Infants aged 4 to 6 months were r and omly allocated to receive daily pasteurized raw whole egg powder ( n = 407 ) or a color‐matched rice powder ( n = 413 ) to age 10 months . All infants followed an egg‐free diet and cooked egg was introduced to both groups at age 10 months . The primary outcome was IgE‐mediated egg allergy defined by a positive pasteurized raw egg challenge and egg sensitization at age 12 months . Results : There was no difference between groups in the percentage of infants with IgE‐mediated egg allergy ( egg 7.0 % vs control 10.3 % ; adjusted relative risk , 0.75 ; 95 % CI , 0.48–1.17 ; P = .20 ) . A higher proportion of participants in the egg group stopped taking the study powder because of a confirmed allergic reaction ( 25 of 407 [ 6.1 % ] compared with 6 of 413 [ 1.5 % ] ) . Egg‐specific IgG4 levels were substantially higher in the egg group at 12 months ( median , 1.22 mgA/L vs control 0.07 mgA/L ; P < .0001 ) . Conclusions : We found no evidence that regular egg intake from age 4 to 6 months substantially alters the risk of egg allergy by age 1 year in infants who are at hereditary risk of allergic disease and had no eczema symptoms at study entry
Despite several intervention trials involving modifications to the maternal diet , the effect of maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation in preventing food allergy remains unclear .
Summary Earlier introduction of allergenic foods is a promising intervention to reduce the risk of some food allergies in high-risk infants .
Purpose of review In the past decade , food allergy has been increasingly recognized as an important public health issue .
The role of maternal and infant diet in the development of food allergy has been a major focus of research throughout this period .
Recently , research in this area has moved from observational studies to intervention trials , and the findings from these trials have started to influence infant feeding guidelines .
In this article , we review recent studies of dietary interventions for preventing food allergy , summarize current knowledge and discuss future research directions .