Gestational diabetes linked to food allergy in children

Monday, 21 September 2009 13:58

Researchers from Chicago’s Children's Memorial Hospital have found a significant association between maternal gestational diabetes and the development of atopic dermatitis and allergen sensitisation, particularly food sensitisation, in infants born at full term.  

The study included 680 children from the Boston Birth Cohort. In this group, 4.9% of the mothers had gestational diabetes, and 34.4% of the children in the study developed atopic dermatitis, while 51% had allergen sensitisation. The associations between gestational diabetes and allergy were shown to be independent of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index and fetal growth, but were not observed in preterm births.

Reference: Kumar et al. 2009 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Sep 4 (online ahead of print)