Food allergy: children who live with a dog or a cat develop less

Seeing your child grow up with a cat or a dog is good for his morale, his sense of responsibility, his self-confidence. But that’s not all. According to a recent Japanese study, children exposed to animals during their fetal development or early childhood would be less affected by food allergies than others.

Protection that varies according to the animal in the home

The team of researchers led by Hisao Okabe and his team thus took over the data from the national study Japan Environment and Children and analyzed figures for 66,215 children. Among them, 22% had been exposed to animals during the fetal period. By crossing these data with the food allergies usually encountered, the researchers concluded that there are different protective properties depending on the animal in the house:

• Children in contact with a dog are less likely to develop reactions to eggs, milk and nuts;
• Children in contact with a cat are significantly less likely to have egg, wheat and soy allergies;
• In contrast, children who have hamsters are at a higher risk of tree nut allergies.

More information on the mechanism of food allergies

For the Japanese team, this finding demonstrates that exposure to the animal, even during pregnancy, is an asset: “The association between exposure to an animal during fetal development or infancy and the risk of incidence of food allergies up to three years of age differs depending on the combination of two factors: the species of the animal and the type of allergen”. According to them, a “Continued contact with dogs and cats from fetal development through infancy reduces the risk of incidence of food allergies”.

A new piece of data that allows us to know a little more about mechanisms underlying childhood food allergies. And that gives one more reason to adopt a four-legged friend, or even several.

According to the Ministry of Health, in France, about 8% of children in France suffer from a food allergy: three quarters of allergies are due to six families of foods: eggs, groundnuts (peanuts), milk cow’s milk, mustard, nuts and fish.