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June 5, 2006 -- Babies who start eating grains after they?re 6 months old may be more likely to develop wheat allergiesallergies.
Researchers report that finding in June?s issue of the journal Pediatrics.
?Delaying initial exposure to cereal grains until after 6 months may increase the risk of developing wheat allergy,? write Jill Poole, MD, and colleagues. ?Our results support continuing the current recommendations of first introducing cereal products between 4 and 6 months of age.?
Poole works in Denver at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center?s allergy and clinical immunology division.
She and her colleagues studied 1,612 children for nearly five years, starting when the babies were newborns. None of the babies had celiac diseaseceliac disease, in which the body can?t digest a protein called gluten, which is found in various grains including wheat, rye, and barley.
Food Survey
The babies? parents completed surveys when the babies were 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 months old, and once a year after that. Survey topics included any foods the babies had tried for the first time, when those items were introduced to the babies? diets, babies? allergies, and whether those allergies had been diagnosed by a doctor.
The researchers also tested the babies? blood several times for signs of wheat allergies.
The vast majority of babies didn?t develop wheat allergies. The study shows that wheat allergies were reported for 16 children, or 1% of the entire group. Only four children were found to have antibodies in their blood specific to wheat; those antibodies are a sign of wheat allergy.
?Children who were first exposed to cereals after 6 months of age had an increased risk of wheat allergy compared with children first exposed to cereals before 6 months of age (after controlling for confounders including a family history of allergic disorders and history of food allergy before 6 months of age),? the researchers write.
Hardly any babies started eating grains before turning 4 months old, so it?s not clear exactly when before 6 months is the best time to introduce grains to babies? diets to help avoid wheat allergies, the researchers note.
SOURCES: Poole, J. Pediatrics, June 2006; vol 117: pp 2175-2182. News release, American Academy of Pediatrics.