Allergies in children are on the rise. And the most difficult cases are allergies to common food ingredients like nuts, milk, and – eggs.

Allergy to eggs is not just about not eating eggs for breakfast. Eggs can be found in many things we eat, from bread, cake and pastries to the cookies and noodles our little ones like so much. We may not see the eggs but the allergens, the proteins that cause the allergic reaction are still there. This is a real pain to mommies with egg-allergic children because they have to check the ingredients of each and every food item they buy. And what about the logistical nightmare of birthday parties, school trips, and camps?

German researchers have recently demonstrated a technique that reduces allergens in chicken eggs and can make them 100 times less allergenic than untreated eggs. Uncooked eggs are subjected to a process similar to pasteurization of milk. The nine-step process combines enzymatic breakdown and heat-treatment that can break down the allergenic proteins in the eggs.

The process would be especially useful in reducing allergens in chicken eggs used as ingredients in manufacturing foodstuffs mentioned above without significantly affecting the taste and flavour of the finished product.

If the technique is proven to be economically and technically feasible in large scale, we might soon have noodles and cookies that are hypoallergenic concerning eggs. That would certainly make life easier for kids and mommies alike.

To help kids understand the technique better, the American Chemical Society issued a news release about the research that is specifically targeting the young audience. Check out Science for Kids: An egg-straordinary discovery to help kids with egg allergy.

German researchers claim that having a dog in your home during your child?s infancy, reduces your child?s risk of developing allergies. Their findings were based upon a 6 year study of 9,000 children and were published in the European Respiratory Journal recently. The findings show that having a dog in the home is associated with a significantly lower level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens.

Scientists admit that they aren?t totally sure how the presence of a dog would reduce the risk of allergies, but theorize that perhaps the results give credence to a theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever. Scientist believe that perhaps youngsters may get beneficial early exposure from the germs carried into the house on the animal?s fur, which helps their immune system develop.

When I came across this study recently, my husband and I joked that our dog isn?t quite up to snuff as our son has developed both allergies and asthma. Then again, we?re in the middle of home renovations which our doctor pointed out can stir up dust and mold which could cause the allergies and asthma.

So, do the negative effects of home renovation outweigh the positive effects of having a dog? Sounds like someone should research that!

Another good reason why breast milk is good for your baby- A recent study in mice shows that breastfeeding does indeed protect babies from airborne allergens that can cause asthma and allergic airway diseases.

Two sets of breastfeeding mice were tested. One set was exposed to the airborne allergen ovalbumin and another set wasn`t. Babies of exposed breastfeeding mice fared much better than babies of unexposed mice when ?challenged? with the same allergen.

Thus, it seems airborne allergens can be transferred from mother to newborn through breast feeding. This exposure through the breast milk can induce antigen-specific tolerance in the babies that protects them from developing airway allergies such as asthma. The transforming growth factor (TGF) which is found in breast milk seems to play an important role in this tolerance induction.

Source:

Nature Reviews Immunology 8, 168 (March 2008) | doi:10.1038/nri2277