- 2024-03-19
- Nutrition reviews 83(2)
- Lan Jiang
- Lili Zhang
- Jiayue Xia
- Lei Cheng
- Guoxun Chen
- Jin Wang
- Vijaya Raghavan
Study Design
- Type
- Meta-Analysis
- Population
- Children with food allergies; studies of maternal or infant probiotic supplementation during pregnancy or infancy
- Methods
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 studies identified through PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Medline until May 20, 2023
Context
Probiotics show promise in preventing and managing food allergies, but the impact of supplementation during pregnancy or infancy on children's allergies and gut microbiota remains unclear.Objective
This study aimed to assess the effects of maternal or infant probiotic supplementation on food allergy risk and explore the role of gut microbiota.Data sources
A systematic search of databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Medline) identified 37 relevant studies until May 20, 2023.Data extraction
Two independent reviewers extracted data, including probiotics intervention details, gut microbiota analysis, and food allergy information.Data analysis
Probiotics supplementation during pregnancy and infancy reduced the risk of total food allergy (relative risk [RR], 0.79; 95% CI, 0.63-0.99), cow-milk allergy (RR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29-0.88), and egg allergy (RR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.39-0.84). Infancy-only supplementation lowered cow-milk allergy risk (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.49-0.96), while pregnancy-only had no discernible effect. Benefits were observed with over 2 probiotic species, and a daily increase of 1.8 × 109 colony-forming units during pregnancy and infancy correlated with a 4% reduction in food allergy risk. Children with food allergies had distinct gut microbiota profiles, evolving with age.Conclusions
Probiotics supplementation during pregnancy and infancy reduces food allergy risk and correlates with age-related changes in gut microbial composition in children.Systematic review registration
PROSPERO registration no. CRD42023425988.