Have you ever experienced the trouble of allergies?

Allergy can be said to be a topic of the times. I believe that many people are familiar with it, including food allergies, pollen allergies, and even worse, air allergies and so on.

However, today, allergies may have become a real experience for more and more people, especially infants and young children whose immunity is not yet fully developed, who are a high-risk group for allergies.

According to relevant statistical data from an epidemiological survey of allergies in urban infants and young children, the incidence of allergies in infants and young children is relatively high, especially in those aged 0-24 months, where the incidence of various allergies is relatively high [1].

In recent years, it has shown a clear upward trend. For example, the epidemiological survey on childhood asthma conducted every 10 years in my country showed that the prevalence of childhood asthma has increased from 1% in 1990 to 3% in 2010; a study on food allergies in children in Chongqing also showed that the proportion of food allergies in infants and young children increased from 3.5% to 5.1% to 7.2% to 9.3% in 10 years. These surveys and studies reflect the trend of allergic diseases in infants and young children rising year by year.

Allergies not only bring a lot of pain to the patients, but also make many parents worried and tired. It can be said that it has become a common problem.

So why do allergies occur so frequently? Let’s first understand the mechanism of allergies.

Allergy is an immune response. When foreign substances enter the body and are identified as harmful substances by the body and are expelled or eliminated, the body responds beyond the normal immune response range. This response is often acute and rapid. It manifests as itching, congested wheals, erythema and many other symptoms on the skin.

The causes of this abnormal reaction can basically be divided into two categories.

For infants and young children, their immunity is not as fully developed as that of adults, especially atopic immunity, which is acquired and grows continuously through repeated interactions with exogenous substances. Therefore, the immunity of infants and young children lacks sufficient adaptation and strengthening. As a result, infants and young children are more susceptible to allergies than adults.

In particular, the intestinal microbiota of infants and young children has not yet been fully established, which is the main factor causing many food-borne allergies. After all, most food-borne substances enter the body at the first checkpoint, and large-scale processing and screening will be carried out at this checkpoint. The intestinal barrier of infants has not yet developed completely, and the colonization of intestinal microorganisms has not yet been perfected. As a result, many foods pass through without distinguishing good from bad, and finally enter the blood through the villi of the small intestine, triggering a strong immune response in the body and causing allergies.

Because of this, intervention in intestinal microorganisms is very important to minimize allergies.

The intervention time for intestinal microorganisms is mainly concentrated in three stages: pregnancy, delivery and lactation.

Because these three stages are also the main sources of the baby's intestinal microorganisms, namely the mother's microorganisms and the microorganisms during breastfeeding, they will form the main types of intestinal microorganisms in infants and young children.

Therefore, supplementing young children's intestinal microorganisms has become a strategy to alleviate immunity.

Relevant studies have also confirmed that common intestinal microorganisms have a corresponding effect on reducing baby allergies. For example, animal bifidobacteria can quickly colonize in the intestinal mucosa, forming a beneficial bacteria barrier, densely covering the intestinal mucosa to form a biofilm, making it impossible for pathogenic bacteria to colonize, improving the intestinal barrier and enhancing immunity [2]. Lactobacillus acidophilus can effectively play its role in the proliferation of lactobacilli. In addition, its characteristics of not being used by harmful bacteria determine that it can specifically promote the growth of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, thereby achieving the effect of regulating the balance of intestinal flora [3].

In general, allergies are a major problem faced by infants and young children. How to solve the allergy problem has always been the direction of many scientists and doctors' efforts. It has been found that intestinal microorganisms can reduce allergic reactions to a certain extent, and have a corresponding effect on food-borne allergies. However, with the improvement of genetic technology in the future, I believe that there will be a way to deal with hereditary allergies.

1 Wang Shuo, Jiang Jingxiong, Wang Yan, Wang Zihuan, Wang Ting, Wang Huishan. Epidemiological survey on symptoms of allergic diseases in urban infants aged 0 to 24 months[J]. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care, 2016, 24(02): 119-122.

2 Li Guixia, Zhang Rijun. Research progress of animal-derived bifidobacterium probiotics [A]. Animal Microecology Branch of Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine. Proceedings of the 3rd 8th National Academic Seminar and Forum on Animal Microecology Enterprise Development Strategy [C]. Animal Microecology Branch of Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine: Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, 2006: 4.

3 Gourgue-Jeannot, C., et al. "Dietary fructooligosaccharides alter the cultivable faecal population of rats but do not stimulate the growth of intestinal bifidobacteria." Canadian journal of microbiology 52.10 (2006): 924-933.