Dietary exposures and allergy prevention in high-risk infants: a joint position statement of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Canadian Paediatric Society

Edmond S Chan; Carl Cummings; Adelle Atkinson; Zave Chad; Marie-Josée Francoeur; Linda Kirste; Douglas Mack; Marie-Noël Primeau; Timothy K Vander Leek; Wade Ta Watson

doi:10.1186/1710-1492-10-45

Dietary exposures and allergy prevention in high-risk infants: a joint position statement of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Canadian Paediatric Society

Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol. 2014 Sep 2;10(1):45. doi: 10.1186/1710-1492-10-45. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ BC Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy & Immunology, University of British Columbia, Room 1C31B, 4480 Oak St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4 Canada.
² Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec Canada.
³ The Hospital for Sick Children, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON Canada.
⁵ Hôpital Charles LeMoyne, Département de pédiatrie, Service d'allergie et immunologie clinique, Université de Sherbrooke, Greenfield Park, Québec, Canada.
⁶ Allergy Nutrition Service, Dietitian Services, HealthLinkBC, Burnaby, BC Canada.
⁷ McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Canada.
⁸ Montreal Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy and Immunology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC Canada.
⁹ Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Division of Allergy, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, NS Canada.

Abstract

Allergic conditions in children are a prevalent health concern in Canada. The burden of disease and the societal costs of proper diagnosis and management are considerable, making the primary prevention of allergic conditions a desirable health care objective. This position statement reviews current evidence on dietary exposures and allergy prevention in infants at high risk of developing allergic conditions. It revisits previous dietary recommendations for pregnancy, breastfeeding and formula-feeding, and provides an approach for introducing solid foods to high-risk infants. While there is no evidence that delaying the introduction of any specific food beyond six months of age helps to prevent allergy, the protective effect of early introduction of potentially allergenic foods (at four to six months) remains under investigation. Recent research appears to suggest that regularly ingesting a new, potentially allergenic food may be as important as when that food is first introduced. This article has already been published (Paediatr Child Health. 2013 Dec;18(10):545-54), and is being re-published with permission from the original publisher, the Canadian Paediatric Society.

Keywords: Allergy prevention; Atopic dermatitis; Breastfeeding; Food allergy; Formula feeding; Solid food introduction.