Women breastfeed babies during a mass event in Athens November 2, 2014. Hundreds of women gathered and fed babies in public to raise awareness among young mothers on the practice at the beginning of the annual World Breastfeeding Week.
IN PHOTO: Women breastfeed babies during a mass event in Athens November 2, 2014. Hundreds of women gathered and fed babies in public to raise awareness among young mothers on the practice at the beginning of the annual World Breastfeeding Week. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis (GREECE - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) TEMPLATE OUT

Researchers from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, have claimed that breastfeeding and a few other factors determine the susceptibility of the infant towards allergic diseases and the degree of development of their immune systems.

The research supports the hygiene hypothesis which states that an exposure to bacteria in early stages of life is necessary for a good health later on. Dr Christine Cole Johnson, the leading team member, claims that their research explains why it is necessary for the babies to be exposed to microorganisms in the first few months of their lives.

“The immune system is designed to be exposed to bacteria on a grand scale,” Johnson says. “If you minimize those exposures, the immune system won’t develop optimally.”

The six studies conducted by the group of researchers, headed by Johnson, monitored the impact of breastfeeding on the microbiome that exists in the gut of the infants. The gut bacteria which exist throughout the gastrointestinal tract and other parts of the human body are important for immune system development and facilitates growth of diseases like allergies and infections in the children, obesity and disorders of the circulatory system. The researchers analysed the stool samples of infants taken at birth and then at the end of six months, they analysed how the gut bacteria affected Treg cells that are known to regulate the immune system.

At the end of the study, the researchers concluded that the babies who were breastfed had a lower risk of developing an allergy such as asthma than those who were not breastfed. Breastfeeding induced different composition of the microbiome in the infants that led to an increase in the Treg cells, thus boosting the immune system and preventing allergies. Other factors that affect the microbiome include ethnicity of the mother, baby's gestational age at the time of birth, C-section delivery and exposure to tobacco or smoke.

The study findings are scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Houston, Texas.

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