Why Is Your Little One Easily Allergic To Food?

Illustration (Emma Bauso / Pexels)

JAKARTA - For parents who have children who are easily allergic to food, they must be wondering why this can happen. In fact, researchers have found that children who have certain food allergies from childhood can reduce the risk of food allergies in the future.

It's just that they cannot explain why children are able to overcome these allergies or why children are more susceptible to allergies when they have never had them.

Launching from Herstory, Friday, May 5, research that comes from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology tries to solve the mystery by conducting tests on mice using antigens.

Antigen serves to inform the body when foreign substances, including food, have entered the body. If there is a substance that is considered unfamiliar to the body, the immune system will respond to it as a danger and will try to fight it off.

In the experiment, mice were raised in a germ-free environment and were only given amino acids to be free of antigens. Without the antigens in their bodies, mice look like babies or toddlers who have not been touched by food.

The selection of antigen-free mice was based on the assumption that the immune system over time would learn to tolerate foods that were initially perceived as a danger to the body.

During the trials, the researchers identified that both food and good bacteria produced unique types of regulatory T cells (Tregs). This is because the germ-free mice only get food from Tregs. Because germ-free mice were particularly susceptible to allergies, the researchers assumed that the presence of food and microbial induced Tregs was necessary to prevent food allergies.

The researchers concluded that dietary tolerance was acquired and involved a specific population of Tregs developing following their diet. Overall, the study shows that children are more prone to food allergies, because they eat less certain types of food. And when they consume more, the body will get used to the antigen and allergic reactions can be avoided.