THE INFLUENCE OF BREAST-FEEDING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATOPIC-DERMATITIS - EXCLUSIVE BREAST-FEEDING VERSUS INITIAL SHORT-TERM FEEDING OF A PARTIAL HYDROLYSATE FOLLOWED BY BREAST-MILK

Newborns (n = 84) from families with a positive history for atopic der matitis were pro-spectively investigated. 71 children were exclusively breast fed (group A), whereas 13 (group B) received a partial whey pr otein hydrolysate (Beba HA; Nestle AG) for up to maximally the first s ix weeks of life and were also exclusively breast fed thereafter. All mothers were instructed to use only food stuffs of low allergen conten t. After 12 months, 12 children (17%) in group A had developed atopic dermatitis whereas none in group B showed any atopic signs. After 18 m onths 23% of the children in group A showed manifestations of atopic d ermatitis. In group B still no child showed disease symptoms. These re sults support the idea of tolerance by ingestion of 2 to 10 kD protein s during the early weeks of life. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.