Gut microbes may protect against food allergies

Abstract

An experiment involving mouse guts and baby poop may help us understand why some infants develop food allergies. Researchers led by Cathryn Nagler at the University of Chicago made mice allergic to milk simply by giving the animals a fecal transplant from human babies with the allergy (Nat. Med. 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41591-018-0324-z). The findings suggest that particular classes of gut bacteria may protect mice, and people, from developing food allergies. The experiment has garnered praise. “It’s shocking, to be honest,” that transferring the microbiome gave mice an allergy, says allergist Kari Nadeau at Stanford University School of Medicine. Previously, Nagler and collaborators compared the microbiomes of healthy and milk-allergic infants and found “an enormous difference,” she says, “even at just four to five months of age.” In the new study, the scientists gave mice feces from formula-fed infants who were either allergic to milk or were not. The researchers then