Gastrointestinal microflora are an important part of the gut defense barrier, which is made up of mucosal lining. Lactobacillus promotes localized protein-specific immune responses (scientifically referred to as Immunoglobulin A-mediated antigen specific immune response). Probiotic bacteria may even promote protective barrier mechanisms in patients with atopic dermatitis and food allergies (see below). By alleviating intestinal inflammation, lactobacilli may also act as a useful tool in the management of food allergies.

Although we don’t have a lot of evidence on beneficial bacteria and children’s allergies, in one study on childhood food allergies, it was found that a deficiency of Lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacteria combined with overgrowth of enterobacteriaceae was common to all cases of a group of children.  Thus, probiotics could prove very helpful. This is backed by anecdotal clinical experience where we see that children with food allergies tend to improve markedly once we get them on a daily dose of probiotics (usually as part of their cereal or juice).

Giving soon-to-be mothers and newborns doses of “good” bacteria may help prevent childhood allergies up to age four, continuing research in the Lancet and as reports by Reuters suggest. The findings, a follow-up from a study that initially looked at allergies in newborns up to age two, may offer evidence that harmless bacteria can train infants’ immune systems to resist allergic reactions.

In the ongoing study, researchers in Finland used a lactobacillus species to try to prevent allergy development in at-risk infants. In the original study, Dr. Marko Kalliomaki and colleagues at Turku University Hospital, Finland, gave a group of pregnant women either probiotic capsules or placebo capsules every day for a few weeks before their due dates. For six months after delivery, women who breast-fed continued on the probiotics or placebo, while bottle-fed infants were given probiotics or placebo directly. All of the babies were considered to be at high risk of developing allergies because a parent or sibling was affected.

Dr. Kalliomaki’s team originally published results of the study when the children were two years old. Now, the researchers report that the youngsters in the probiotic supplement group were less likely at age four to have developed an allergic skin condition called atopic eczema.

“The main finding is that administration of probiotics (shortly before and after birth) may prevent the development of atopic eczema during the first four years of life in high-risk children,” Dr. Kalliomaki told Reuters Health. Children at high risk, he said, are those whose mothers, fathers or older siblings have asthma, atopic eczema or allergic rhinitis. “The new finding is that the preventive potential of Lactobaccilus GG may extend beyond infancy… to the age of four years,” the researcher added.

By the age of four years, 25 of 54 children in the placebo group had developed allergic eczema, a condition in which the skin becomes irritated, red and itchy. But just 14 of the 53 children who had received probiotics developed the skin condition, which was a 43 percent reduction, according to the report.

In another report from Finland, researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, University of Turku, assessed the fecal microflora of 10 healthy infants and 27 infants with atopic eczema during breast-feeding and after weaning. The atopic infants had far lower bifidobacteria counts.

How to Use Probiotics for Allergies

Be sure to choose a quality probiotic supplement containing lactobacillus and bifidus cultures and it take daily. Be sure to follow the recommended label instructions and work with your physician to determine the optimal dosage. Do not discontinue medications unless advised to do so by your physician. For children, mix the probiotic supplement with baby food, juice or cereal.