Researchers trial Vitamin D drop in bid to reduce food allergies in children
Australian researchers believe there is an allergy pandemic in young children, with one in 10 infants suffering from a food-related allergy, but a new study hopes a simple vitamin could turn things around.
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A lack of vitamin D is being looked at as a cause of childhood allergies.
Researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute are probing wether vitamin D supplements could help prevent food allergies in infants and kids as part of a five-year study.
About one in 10 infants, and one in 20 children, suffer from food-related allergies in Australia, in what researchers say is a growing “allergy pandemic.”
Associate Professor Kirsten Perrett said with the highest rates of childhood food allergies in the world, prevention was critical.
“At this stage we have some hunches about why food allergy has been on the rise but we need to do these clinical trials to find out for sure,” she said.
“It’s a major, major issue for many Australians and we’re really wanting to turn back the tide to see if we can really make a difference.”
About 3500 babies, aged six to 12-weeks-old will take part in the study, in a bid to understand the reasons behind the rise in numbers.
It will see parents give their child a “drop" of vitamin D every day for their first year of life.
They will then be given a free allergy test at the end of the 12-month period to determine if the child is allergy-free.
First-time mum Kiandra Ward and baby Toby, 13 months, took part in the first stage of the study last year.
Ms Ward said she had “never really considered” allergies being an issue for Toby — who was born healthy — but took part in the study as she was concerned by the growing figures.
“I was personally interested because growing up there weren’t many kids with allergies and nowadays there are,” she said.
“Toby came up negative, which is great (but) some kids aren’t allowed to have museli bars or peanut butter and the amount of people that have allergies or intolerance issues — you see them every day.”
Prof Perrett said the Melbourne-based study would allow researchers to look at a large cohort of children and see if vitamin D could play a role.
She said peanut and tree nuts, milk and eggs and fish and seafood allergies make up about 90 per cent of all food allergies.
“Vitamin D could be part of the puzzle that we might be able to put in place to prevent allergies in future children,” she said.
The MCRI is recruiting 1700 children from Melbourne aged six to 12 weeks to take part in the study.
For more information, contact vitality@mcri.edu.au
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