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Pregnancy food allergy claims unfounded
“Mothers-to-be can reduce the chances of their babies developing food allergies by eating a diet rich in oily fish and nuts”, according to the Daily Telegraph. The newspaper says that researchers found that when mothers-to-be ate a diet high in a particular group of polyunsaturated fatty acids this “allowed more broken down food substances and bacteria to pass into the blood stream”. In turn, they say this would trigger the baby's immune system to produce antibodies.
However, this report is actually based on an animal study looking at the effect of feeding pregnant pigs a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids. It found that at 28 days after their birth, the piglets whose mothers were fed a diet rich in the omega-3 fatty acids in pregnancy had more “permeable” intestines, allowing more substances to pass into the blood. However, scientists did not look at the effect of this on allergy or any other health outcomes in the pigs. In the article, the authors themselves acknowledge that they do not know whether these changes would be beneficial or harmful.
