Association of Breast Milk Fatty Acids and Allergic Disease Outcomes – a Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction

Dietary poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have immune regulatory properties. Breast milk is rich in PUFA, and it has been hypothesised that these PUFAs may be important in the aetiology of allergic diseases. Despite a growing body of evidence, the associations between breast milk PUFA and allergic disease have not previously been systematically reviewed.

Methods

The search was performed in PubMed and EMBASE databases using breastfeeding, fatty acid and allergic disease terms. Two authors were involved in selecting papers for review according to the inclusion criteria and extracting information on study characteristics and measures of association. Only studies that reported numeric associations between concentration of breast-milk fatty acids and allergic disease outcomes were included.

Results

A total of 18 papers met the inclusion criteria, reporting results from 15 study populations. The majority were cohort studies (n=11), with data from only two case control and two cross sectional studies. Sample size varied between 30 and 352 participants and follow-up time of the cohorts varied between three months and 14 years. Nine studies reported on eczema, seven on sensitisation and only five reported on asthma/wheeze. There was heterogeneity among studies in terms of presenting the association between PUFA and allergy, therefore estimates could not be pooled. Only a few studies observed associations between n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and allergic disease, and the magnitude of this effect varied greatly.

Conclusions

There is insufficient evidence to suggest that colostrum or breast milk poly unsaturated fatty acids influence the risk of childhood allergic diseases.

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