Influence of type of feeding on lymphocyte function and development of infantile allergy

Symptom scores indicating infantile allergy were recorded longitudinally in a group of infants during the first year of life. The symptom scores were related to duration of breast-feeding. Lymphocyte function, measured as the proliferative responsiveness to PHA-stimulation, was related to feeding with breast-milk or cow's milk. Babies with a short duration of breast-feeding; i.e. 1 month or less had significantly higher symptom scores at the ages of 1 month (P less than 0.05), 3 months (P less than 0.05), 6 months (P less than 0.001) and 12 months (P less than 0.05), than babies who were breast-fed for more than 1 month. The lymphocyte responsiveness to PHA was significantly higher at 3 and 6 months in babies who were fed cow's milk compared with those who were solely or partially breast-fed (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.01 respectively). There was no correlation between symptom scores and lymphocyte responsiveness. It is concluded that infantile allergy is more common in babies with a short duration of breast-feeding and that feeding with cow's milk, compared to breast-feeding, causes a changed lymphocyte reactivity to PHA, which latter finding indicates an altered T-cell function between the two feeding groups.