MedWire News: Pregnant women with allergies can reduce the risk of their children becoming sensitised to allergens by regularly taking 'good' bacteria called probiotics, study results suggest.

Dr Anu Huurre, from the University of Turku in Finland, and colleagues explain: "Preliminary data suggest that specific probiotics, if supplemented perinatally, may reduce the risk of atopic [allergic] eczema in the child."

To investigate whether taking probiotics during can help prevent allergic sensitisation in high-risk children, the researchers studied data on 171 mother-baby pairs from an ongoing nutrition study who were assigned to take probiotics or a dummy supplement during pregnancy.

All the mothers underwent skin prick allergy tests during the last 3 months of pregnancy and their children underwent these tests at the ages of 6 and 12 months.

Among children born to women with allergies, exclusive breastfeeding for more than 2.5 months was associated with a 3.4-fold increased risk of becoming sensitised to allergens, while breastfeeding for over 6 months was associated with nearly a five-fold increased risk, compared with other children.

However, infants born to allergic women who took probiotic supplements during pregnancy were less likely to become sensitised to allergens than those with allergic mothers who took the dummy supplement.

Writing in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Dr Huurre and team conclude: "Infants of atopic mothers, specifically when breastfed exclusively over 2.5 months or totally over 6 months, had a higher risk of sensitization at the age of 12 months."

But they add: "This risk could be reduced by the use of probiotics during pregnancy and lactation, partly by resulting in a beneficial composition of the breast milk."