8% of US children presently suffer from food allergy, a 50% increase between 1997-2011. “Food allergy is a reproducible inflammatory response induced by immunoglobulin E activation of mast cells and basophils upon exposure to a given food”. Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated food allergy (IgE-FA) may be preceded by infant atopic eczema and increases the risk of allergic rhinitis and asthma in later childhood. Dysregulation of immune processes which may lead to oral intolerance of food, may be influenced by aberrations in the gut microbiome.
A study of 447 infants at 3-5 years of age using a retrospective questionnaire which identified IgE-FA to eggs, milk or peanuts related food allergy to a profile of gut bacterial microbiota (using 16 S rRNA sequencing) present in stool specimens collected at 1 and 6 months of age.
Children with IgE-food allergy at 3-5 years of age have significantly less diversity and maturation of gut microbiota at 1 and 6 months of age (compared with samples of children classified as “no IgE-FA”) particularly in the orders of Lactobacillales, Bacteroidales, and Clostridiales.
