New aspects of probiotics – a novel approach in the management of food allergy
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...5.1999.00103.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...5.1999.00103.x
Quote:
| Until now, the only treatment of food allergy has been the elimination of the offending food from the diet. However, recent studies indicate that probiotic bacteriotherapy has great potential in controlling the allergic inflammation associated with food allergy... The gastrointestinal tract is constantly exposed to substantial amounts of luminal food and bacterial components. In the healthy gut, the immune system is able to create a balance between the protective mucosal immunity and systemic tolerance. In food allergy, this balance is impaired, and oral tolerance of dietary antigens is not achieved or maintained... In the early 1980s, Russian scientists linked food allergy to abnormal intestinal microflora ( 18). Subsequently, Loskutova ( 19) reported that the administration of a mixture containing Propionibacteria and Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria hastened the disappearance of food allergy manifestations. In a more recent study by Trapp et al. ( 20), volunteers given yoghurt had decreased concentrations of IgE in the serum and a lower frequency of allergies. Wheeler et al. ( 21) studied the effect of yoghurt on cellular, humoral, and phagocytic function in adults with atopic allergy. Consumption of yoghurt, fermented with L. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, induced no significant changes in any of the immune parameters investigated. However, more conspicuous results were observed when infants with atopic eczema and cow's milk allergy were given an extensively hydrolyzed whey formula supplemented with the probiotic L. rhamnosus strain GG [ATCC 53103] ( 1). In comparison to control subjects who received unsupplemented extensively hydrolyzed whey formula, probiotic supplementation resulted in a significant improvement of clinical symptoms and alleviation of intestinal inflammation associated with food allergy... In unbalanced intestinal flora, pathogens are abundantly present and the gut immune system may mount an inflammatory response to them ( 3). By producing antimicrobial substances and coaggregation with pathogens ( 2, 3), probiotics can normalize the intestinal flora and thereby alleviate inflammation, normalize permeability, and reduce the permeation of food antigens in hypersensitive subjects... |
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