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Via NIH Press - A new study indicates there may be yet another reason to reduce childhood obesity -- it may help prevent allergies. The study published in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology showed that obese children and adolescents are at increased risk of having some kind of allergy, especially to a food. The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), both parts of the National Institutes of Health.
"We found a positive association between obesity and allergies," said DarrylZeldin, M.D., acting clinical director at NIEHS and senior author on the paper.The researchers analyzed data on children and young adults ages 2 to19 from anew national dataset designed to obtain information about allergies and asthma.
"Whilethe results from this study are interesting, they do not prove that obesity causesallergies. More research is needed to further investigate this potential link," Zeldinsaid. The study is the first to be published using new data from the National Healthand Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
NHANES is a large nationally representativesurvey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. NHANES is designed to assess thehealth and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. Anallergy/asthma component was supported by NIEHS and added to the 2005?2006 NHANESstudy, making it the largest nationally representative dataset of allergy andasthma information ever assembled in the United States.
"We have all the pieces of the puzzle in this dataset," said Zeldin. "The allergyand asthma component of NHANES provides allergen exposure information, allergicsensitization information, as well as disease outcome information. There is awealth of knowledge we will be able to gain by analyzing these data that willbe useful to allergy and asthma sufferers." In this study, the researchers analyzed data from 4,111 children and young adultsaged 2-19 years of age. They looked at total and allergen-specific immunoglobulinE (IgE) or antibody levels to a large panel of indoor, outdoor and food allergens,body weight, and responses to a questionnaire about diagnoses of hay fever, eczema,and allergies.
Obesity was defined as being in the 95th percentile of the bodymass index for the child?s age. The researchers found the IgE levels were higheramong children who were obese or overweight. Obese children were about 26 percentmore likely to have allergies than children of normal weight.
"The signal for allergies seemed to be coming mostly from food allergies. Therate of having a food allergy was 59 percent higher for obese children," saidNIEHS researcher Stephanie London, M.D., a co-author on the study. "As childhood obesity rates rise, NIEHS will continue to work to determine howenvironmental factors affect this epidemic," said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., NIEHSdirector.
"Seeing a possible link between obesity and allergies provides additionalmotivation for undertaking the challenge of reducing childhood obesity." "Given that the prevalence of both obesity and allergic disease has increasedamong children over the last several decades, it is important to understand and,if possible, prevent these epidemics," said Cynthia M. Visness, Ph.D., leadauthor on the paper and a scientist at Rho Federal Systems Division, Inc. inChapel Hill, N.C. NIAID conducts and supports research ? at NIH, throughout the United States,and worldwide ? to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases,and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses.News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available onthe NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov. The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on humanhealth and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics,visit our website at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.
Childhood Obesity and Allergies: Possible Link Identified
| May 4th 2009 | Research Immunology |
Via NIH Press - A new study indicates there may be yet another reason to reduce childhood obesity -- it may help prevent allergies. The study published in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology showed that obese children and adolescents are at increased risk of having some kind of allergy, especially to a food. The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), both parts of the National Institutes of Health.
"We found a positive association between obesity and allergies," said DarrylZeldin, M.D., acting clinical director at NIEHS and senior author on the paper.The researchers analyzed data on children and young adults ages 2 to19 from anew national dataset designed to obtain information about allergies and asthma.
"Whilethe results from this study are interesting, they do not prove that obesity causesallergies. More research is needed to further investigate this potential link," Zeldinsaid. The study is the first to be published using new data from the National Healthand Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
NHANES is a large nationally representativesurvey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. NHANES is designed to assess thehealth and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. Anallergy/asthma component was supported by NIEHS and added to the 2005?2006 NHANESstudy, making it the largest nationally representative dataset of allergy andasthma information ever assembled in the United States.
"We have all the pieces of the puzzle in this dataset," said Zeldin. "The allergyand asthma component of NHANES provides allergen exposure information, allergicsensitization information, as well as disease outcome information. There is awealth of knowledge we will be able to gain by analyzing these data that willbe useful to allergy and asthma sufferers." In this study, the researchers analyzed data from 4,111 children and young adultsaged 2-19 years of age. They looked at total and allergen-specific immunoglobulinE (IgE) or antibody levels to a large panel of indoor, outdoor and food allergens,body weight, and responses to a questionnaire about diagnoses of hay fever, eczema,and allergies.
Obesity was defined as being in the 95th percentile of the bodymass index for the child?s age. The researchers found the IgE levels were higheramong children who were obese or overweight. Obese children were about 26 percentmore likely to have allergies than children of normal weight.
"The signal for allergies seemed to be coming mostly from food allergies. Therate of having a food allergy was 59 percent higher for obese children," saidNIEHS researcher Stephanie London, M.D., a co-author on the study. "As childhood obesity rates rise, NIEHS will continue to work to determine howenvironmental factors affect this epidemic," said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., NIEHSdirector.
"Seeing a possible link between obesity and allergies provides additionalmotivation for undertaking the challenge of reducing childhood obesity." "Given that the prevalence of both obesity and allergic disease has increasedamong children over the last several decades, it is important to understand and,if possible, prevent these epidemics," said Cynthia M. Visness, Ph.D., leadauthor on the paper and a scientist at Rho Federal Systems Division, Inc. inChapel Hill, N.C. NIAID conducts and supports research ? at NIH, throughout the United States,and worldwide ? to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases,and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses.News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available onthe NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov. The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on humanhealth and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics,visit our website at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.
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