Maternal Human Milk IgA Levels In Two Cohorts With Different Atopic Rates

Abstract

Prevalence of atopic diseases has been increasing worldwide. However, many studies have indicated that individuals who practice a traditional farming lifestyle have lower rates of allergy. Moreover, studies have shown that maternal farm exposure can confer infant protection as well, possibly through the constitution of their human milk (HM). In this experiment, we measured HM IgA of mothers from the Old Order Mennonites (OOM), who live a traditional farming lifestyle with infants at low-risk of allergy and from mothers living in urban/suburban Rochester (ROC) with high-risk infants.