Asthma and lower airway diseaseTiming of infant feeding in relation to childhood asthma and allergic diseases
Section snippets
Subjects and study design
This study was based on the Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study, which started in 1994. This is a multidisciplinary, population-based prospective cohort study that examines potential means to predict and prevent the manifestation of type 1 diabetes.24 Infants born with HLA-conferred susceptibility to type 1 diabetes were recruited from 3 university hospitals in Finland (Turku, Oulu, and Tampere) and monitored at 3- to 12-month intervals for diabetes-associated
Results
Among the 3781 children who participated in the study, data available for the end points for the present analysis were as follow: asthma, 3142 (83%) children; allergic rhinitis, 3112 (82%) children; atopic eczema, 3109 (82%) children; and atopic sensitization, 3675 (97%) children. Among these children, asthma was present in 6.2% (194/3142), atopic asthma in 3.5% (107/3037), nonatopic asthma in 2.6% (79/3037), allergic rhinitis in 14% (442/3112), and atopic eczema in 37% (1165/3109), and 38%
Discussion
The current findings from a relatively large Finnish cohort show that early introduction of cereals, fish, and egg in infancy (respective to the timing of introduction of each food) might confer protection against the development of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic sensitization by the age of 5 years. Furthermore, long duration of total breast-feeding was associated with protection against asthma, in particular nonatopic asthma, in childhood. There was no evidence suggesting reverse
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Cited by (121)
Diet and asthma
2023, Asthma in the 21st Century: New Research AdvancesProgramming long-term health: Nutrition and diet in infants aged 6 months to 1 year
2022, Early Nutrition and Long-Term Health: Mechanisms, Consequences, and Opportunities, Second EditionThe Interplay Between Eczema and Breastfeeding Practices May Hide Breastfeeding's Protective Effect on Childhood Asthma
2021, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In PracticeCitation Excerpt :Despite these benefits, the influence of breastfeeding on asthma prevalence in childhood is less clear and findings within the literature remain inconsistent. Previous studies investigating this relationship have illustrated a protective effect,3-10 no effect,11-15 or even an increased risk of asthma with prolonged duration of breastfeeding.16,17 Although the most recent meta-analysis of 42 articles demonstrated an overall modest protective effect (pooled odds ratio, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.82-0.95), the authors acknowledged the low-quality nature of this result given substantial heterogeneity between studies.18
Supported by the Academy of Finland (grants 44105, 48724, 80846, 201988, 126813, and 129492); the Prevaller Consortium; the Foundation for Pediatric Research; the Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation; the Juho Vainio Foundation; the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation; Medical Research Funds, Turku; Oulu and Tampere University Hospitals; the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; the Novo Nordisk Foundation; and the EU Biomed 2 Program (BMH4-CT98-3314).
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: M. Kaila has received research support from Pirkanmaan Sairaanhoitopiiri, Tampere, Finland, and Tuberkuloosisaatio, Tampere, Finland. M. Erkkola has received research support from the University of Helsinki and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, lecture fees from the University of Tampere, and payment for the development of educational presentations from Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. J. Kere has received research support from the Academy of Finland and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation and is employed by the Karolinska Institute. The rest of the other authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.