Written by Akila Rekima and the University of Western Australia – UWA press release.
Akila Rekima from The University of Western Australia. Photos credit: Ross Swanborough.
A research team at UWA is investigating the complex
interactions of breast milk with allergens and baby’s gut immune system.
They’ve found that food-derived but also airborne allergens are present in breast milk. Some do give protection and reduce allergies later in life.
Their preclinical data and human birth cohorts analysis strongly suggest that egg-derived allergen protect against egg allergy. But they’ve also found that other allergens in breast milk such as house dust mite derived allergens may interfere with protection from allergies.
Kids born to mums who’d taken high doses of fish oil in pregnancy were less likely to have some types of allergies, Adelaide researchers have found.
The trial, run by the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), was the largest in the world to look at the effects of Omega-3—commonly found in fish oil—on allergies in children.
Researchers are working with prawns in the search for a shellfish allergy vaccine. Credit: RMIT
A new oral vaccine against shellfish allergies is being developed by researchers at RMIT University.
Assoc. Prof. Andreas Lopata and his team in RMIT’s School of Applied Sciences are working to help find a different method for vaccination against the potentially deadly allergy.
