Prevention of allergies and infections by minimally processed milk in infants-The MARTHA feasibility and safety trial.

Background: Consumption of raw cow's milk has repeatedly been shown to protect from asthma, allergies, and respiratory infections. As raw milk bears potential health hazards, it cannot be recommended for prevention. Therefore, we performed an intervention study with microbially safe but otherwise minimally processed cow's milk.

Continuous Rather Than Solely Early Farm Exposure Protects From Hay Fever Development.

Background: An important window of opportunity for early-life exposures has been proposed for the development of atopic eczema and asthma.

Objective: However, it is unknown whether hay fever with a peak incidence around late school age to adolescence is similarly determined very early in life.

Methods: In the Protection against Allergy-Study in Rural Environments (PASTURE) birth cohort potentially relevant exposures such as farm milk consumption and exposure to animal sheds were assessed at multiple time points from infancy to age 10.

Trajectories of asthma and allergy symptoms from childhood to adulthood.

Background: Phenotypes of asthma and allergic diseases are mainly studied separately for children and adults. To explore the role of adolescence and young adulthood, we investigated symptom trajectories at the transition from childhood into adulthood.

Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted in a population initially recruited for the German arm of Phase II of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood and followed-up three times until their early 30s (N=2267).

Excessive Unbalanced Meat Consumption in the First Year of Life Increases Asthma Risk in the PASTURE and LUKAS2 Birth Cohorts.

A higher diversity of food items introduced in the first year of life has been inversely related to subsequent development of asthma. In the current analysis, we applied latent class analysis (LCA) to systematically assess feeding patterns and to relate them to asthma risk at school age. PASTURE (N=1133) and LUKAS2 (N=228) are prospective birth cohort studies designed to evaluate protective and risk factors for atopic diseases, including dietary patterns.

Asthma in farm children is more determined by genetic polymorphisms and in non-farm children by environmental factors.

Background: The asthma syndrome is influenced by hereditary and environmental factors. With the example of farm exposure, we study whether genetic and environmental factors interact for asthma.

Methods: Statistical learning approaches based on penalized regression and decision trees were used to predict asthma in the GABRIELA study with 850 cases (9% farm children) and 857 controls (14% farm children).

The Beneficial Effect of Farm Milk Consumption on Asthma, Allergies, and Infections: From Meta-Analysis of Evidence to Clinical Trial.

The low prevalence of asthma and allergies in farm children has partially been ascribed to the consumption of raw cow's milk. A literature search identified 12 publications on 8 pertinent studies. A meta-analysis corroborated the protective effect of raw milk consumption early in life (<1 to 5 years, according to study) on asthma (odds ratio [OR], 0.

Parents know it best: Prediction of asthma and lung function by parental perception of early wheezing episodes.

Background: Childhood asthma is often preceded by early wheeze. Usually, wheezing episodes are recorded retrospectively, which may induce recall bias.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate true-positive recall of parent-reported wheeze at 1 year of age, its determinants, and its implications for asthma and lung function at 6 years of age.

Genome-wide interaction study of early-life smoking exposure on time-to-asthma onset in childhood.

Background: Asthma, a heterogeneous disease with variable age of onset, results from the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Early-life tobacco smoke (ELTS) exposure is a major asthma risk factor. Only a few genetic loci have been reported to interact with ELTS exposure in asthma.

Author Correction: Farm-like indoor microbiota in non-farm homes protects children from asthma development.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Farm-like indoor microbiota in non-farm homes protects children from asthma development.

Asthma prevalence has increased in epidemic proportions with urbanization, but growing up on traditional farms offers protection even today. The asthma-protective effect of farms appears to be associated with rich home dust microbiota, which could be used to model a health-promoting indoor microbiome. Here we show by modeling differences in house dust microbiota composition between farm and non-farm homes of Finnish birth cohorts that in children who grow up in non-farm homes, asthma risk decreases as the similarity of their home bacterial microbiota composition to that of farm homes increases.

Development of atopic sensitization in Finnish and Estonian children: A latent class analysis in a multicenter cohort.

Background: The prevalence of atopy is associated with a Western lifestyle, as shown by studies comparing neighboring regions with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Atopy might reflect various conditions differing in their susceptibility to environmental factors.

Objective: We sought to define phenotypes of atopic sensitization in early childhood and examine their association with allergic diseases and hereditary background in Finland and Estonia.

Author Correction: Genome-wide association and HLA fine-mapping studies identify risk loci and genetic pathways underlying allergic rhinitis.

In the version of this article initially published, in Fig. 3, the y-axis numbering did not match the log scale indicated in the axis label. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF version of the article.

The Hygiene Hypothesis in the Age of the Microbiome.

The original version of the hygiene hypothesis suggested that infections transmitted early in life by "unhygienic contact" prevented allergies. Examples were endemic fecal-oral infections by viral, bacterial, or protozoic pathogens, such as hepatitis A virus, Helicobacter pylori, or Toxoplasma gondii. Later, this concept also included microorganisms beyond pathogens, such as commensals and symbionts, and the hygiene hypothesis was extended to inflammatory diseases in general.

Identification of fungal candidates for asthma protection in a large population-based study.

Background: Exposure to molds has been related to asthma risk both positively and negatively, depending on the environmental setting. The pertinent results are based on generic markers or culturing methods although the majority of present fungi cannot be cultured under laboratory conditions. The aim of the present analysis was to assess environmental dust samples for asthma-protective fungal candidates with a comprehensive molecular technique covering also non-cultivable and non-viable fungi.

Bacterial microbiota of the upper respiratory tract and childhood asthma.

Background: Patients with asthma and healthy controls differ in bacterial colonization of the respiratory tract. The upper airways have been shown to reflect colonization of the lower airways, the actual site of inflammation in asthma, which is hardly accessible in population studies.

Objective: We sought to characterize the bacterial communities at 2 sites of the upper respiratory tract obtained from children from a rural area and to relate these to asthma.

ω-3 fatty acids contribute to the asthma-protective effect of unprocessed cow's milk.

Background: Living on a farm has repeatedly been shown to protect children from asthma and allergies. A major factor involved in this effect is consumption of unprocessed cow's milk obtained directly from a farm. However, this phenomenon has never been shown in a longitudinal design, and the responsible milk components are still unknown.