Nutritional adequacy of a cows' milk exclusion diet in infancy.

Background: Infants with suspected cows' milk allergy are required to follow a strict milk exclusion diet which may lead to nutritional deficiencies, especially if not supervised by a healthcare professional. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional adequacy of a cows' milk exclusion diet in a group of UK infants over a period of 6 months.

Methods: Participants in this study are a subgroup of the Prevalence of Infant Food Allergy study, a prospective food allergy birth cohort study from the South of England.

Incidence and risk factors for food hypersensitivity in UK infants: results from a birth cohort study.

Background: The prevalence of food hypersensitivity in the UK is still largely open to debate. Additionally its pathogenesis is also unclear although it is known that there are differing phenotypes. Determining its prevalence, along with identifying those factors associated with its development will help to assess its clinical importance within the national setting and also add to the debate on appropriate prevention strategies.

Prospective food diaries demonstrate breastfeeding characteristics in a UK birth cohort.

Breastfeeding duration and exclusive breastfeeding rates are universally below those recommended by World Health Organization. Due to limitations and challenges associated with researching breastfeeding characteristics, the times when exclusivity is likely to be lost and when women are most likely to discontinue breastfeeding have not yet been identified. Prospective food diaries allow reliable description of the dynamics of breastfeeding to be made to help identify these key time periods.

Introduction of complementary foods and the relationship to food allergy.

Objectives: To address questions regarding breastfeeding, complementary feeding, allergy development, and current infant-feeding recommendations.

Methods: This was a nested, case-control within a cohort study in which mothers of 41 infants diagnosed with food allergy by the age of 2 years (according to double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge) and their 82 age-matched controls kept prospective food diaries of how their infants were fed in the first year of life.

Results: Infants who were diagnosed with food allergy by the time they were 2 years of age were introduced to solids earlier (≤16 weeks of age) and were less likely to be receiving breast milk when cow's milk protein was first introduced into their diet.

Diet and food allergy development during infancy: birth cohort study findings using prospective food diary data.

Background: After an era of only considering the allergenic properties of the infant diet and allergy outcomes, emerging data suggest that the overall composition of the infant diet might be a more important factor in the development of allergic disease.

Objective: We sought to assess the relationship between infant dietary patterns in the first year of life and development of food allergy by age 2 years.

Methods: We performed a nested, case-control, within-cohort study.