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Published on: August 7, 2017
Anti-infective proteins in breast milk and asthma-associated phenotypes during early childhood
Guicheng Zhang1, Ching Tat Lai, Peter Hartmann
1School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Insights
Breast milk proteins may temporarily affect early childhood respiratory infections and allergies, but do not appear to influence asthma development. These transient effects suggest complex impacts on infant immune responses.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric immunology
- Allergy and immunology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The relationship between breastfeeding and childhood asthma is debated, with confounding factors like respiratory infections and recall bias complicating previous research.
- Existing studies often fail to adequately control for crucial confounders, leading to inconsistent findings on breast milk's protective effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between anti-infective protein concentrations in breast milk and respiratory infections, atopy, and asthma development in high-risk children.
- To prospectively analyze these associations from birth to age 10 years, accounting for potential confounders.
Main Methods:
- A prospective cohort study involving high-risk children.
- Measurement of anti-infective protein concentrations in maternal milk samples.
- Prospective follow-up for atopy, respiratory infections, and asthma diagnoses until age 10.
Main Results:
- Transient inverse associations were observed between milk protein concentration and upper respiratory infections in the first year of life.
- Parallel transient positive associations were found with early lower respiratory infections and atopy.
- No significant associations were detected between breast milk protein concentrations and asthma-related outcomes up to age 10.
Conclusions:
- Breast milk feeding may transiently influence inflammatory symptoms related to early-life respiratory infections and atopy.
- The observed effects are inconsistent and short-lived, suggesting a complex and multi-level impact on infant immunoinflammatory function.
- Breast milk's role in asthma development remains unclear, highlighting the need for further research into its immunomodulatory properties.
Background:
The impact of breast milk feeding on susceptibility to asthma in childhood is highly controversial, due in part to failure of the majority of studies in the area to adequately account for key confounders exemplified by respiratory infection history, plus the effects of recall bias.
Methods:
As part of a prospective cohort study on the role of respiratory infections in asthma development in high-risk children, we measured the concentration of a panel of anti-infective proteins in maternal milk samples and analyzed associations between these and subsequent atopy-, infection-, and asthma-related outcomes prospectively to age 10 years.
Results:
We observed significant but transient inverse associations between the concentration of milk proteins and susceptibility to upper respiratory infections in year 1 only, and parallel but positive transient associations with early lower respiratory infections and atopy. No associations were seen with asthma-related outcomes.
Conclusions:
Breast milk feeding may influence the expression of inflammatory symptoms associated with respiratory infections and atopy in early life, but these effects appear to be inconsistent and transient. The heterogeneous nature of breast-feeding effects suggests it may influence systemic immunoinflammatory function at several different levels.
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