Preventive effect of whey hydrolysate formulas for mothers and infants against allergy development in infants for the first 2 years

Abstract

We studied the preventive effect against allergies in infants who and whose mothers consumed hypoallergenic formulas until 6 months after birth. Mother and infant pairs were divided into three groups, and the infants were monitored for the development of allergies for the first 2 years. In the MD group (n = 102; n = number of infants), the mothers were given a hypoallergenic formula for mothers (MOM HA), which contained hydrolyzed whey protein as the only protein source, as a substitution for cow's milk during late pregnancy and lactation. In the CD group (n = 127), the mothers were given cow's milk during the corresponding period. All infants in the MD and CD groups were exclusively breast-fed or mixed-fed with breast milk and hypoallergenic infant formula (NAN HA), which contains the same hydrolyzed protein as MOM HA. In the AF group (n = 54), the mothers consumed MOM HA and their infants were mixed-fed with breast milk and a cow's milk-based adopted infant formula during the corresponding period. In the MD group, no infants were positive to cow's milk-specific immunoglobulin E (RAST) at 4 months of age, in contrast to 6% and 3% of infants in the CD and AF groups, respectively. The infants in the MD group showed low incidence of various allergies, especially of eczema, as compared to the CD and AF groups. These results suggest that consumption of cow's milk by mothers and cow's milk-based formula feeding to infants elevate the risk of allergies in infants, and that consumption of hypoallergenic formula for pregnant and lactating women and for infants could be helpful in preventing allergy development in infants.