Low vitamin D levels linked to infant food allergy

Recent reports have shown that those furthest from the equator (and therefore the sun, and the ability to make vitamin D) experience higher hospital admission for food allergy related events, and a study from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia has investigated the role of vitamin D in the development of food allergy in children. The study city was Melbourne itself, a city with a population lacking in vitamin D, with a higher rate of food allergy and no vitamin D fortification in the food chain.

Serum was taken from 358 infants, involved in the HealthNuts study, with challenge-proven food allergy to egg, peanut and or sesame, 242 with sensitisation only, and 108 negative controls. Low vitamin D at age one was associated with food allergy, even after adjusting for breastfeeding for less than 10 months, not consuming formula or having eaten semi-cooked eggs, or having their blood taken in winter or spring.

Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

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First Published in Fbuary 2012

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