Breast milk fatty acids and allergic disease in preschool children: the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy birth cohort study.

Background: Better understanding of the association between early life lipid intakes and the development of allergic diseases is needed.

Objective: We prospectively studied breast milk content of n-6, n-3, and trans fatty acids in relation to allergic symptoms at the ages of 1 and 4 years.

Methods: Fatty acid content was determined in breast milk samples of 265 (158 allergic and 107 nonallergic) mothers of children participating in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy study.