Food Allergy and Breastfeeding

Allergy and Clinical Immunology Division, Department of Pediatrics, University of Roma “La Sapienza” Medical School Breastfeeding Normal neonates are equipped with a limited immune competence, therefore they need breast milk (BM), which represent an excellent immune protection for the neonate during the critical period of intestinal vulnerability, due to a great variety of functionally interactive immunological, antibacterial, antiviral, anti inflammatory and immune modulating factors. Evidence suggests that the protection afforded by human milk to the recipient infant is greatest when breast-feeding is exclusive and of substantial duration. In this update of an old topic, we shall review it’s maim role in atopy prevention as an introduction to the immunological and non immunological components of BM and colostrum, and the spectrum and mechanisms of the protection of host defenses.