title: Nutritional approaches for the primary prevention of allergic disease: An update.
abstract: The dramatic rise in early childhood allergic diseases indicates the specific vulnerability of the immune system to early life environmental changes. Dietary changes are at the centre of lifestyle changes that underpin many modern inflammatory and metabolic diseases, and therefore are an essential element of prevention strategies. Although modern dietary changes are complex and involve changing patterns of many nutrients, there is also an interest in the early life effects of specific nutrients including polyunsaturated fatty acids, oligosaccharides (soluble fibre), antioxidants, folate and other vitamins that have documented effects on immune function as well as metabolism. A better understanding of nutritional programming of immune health, nutritional epigenetics and the biological processes sensitive to nutritional exposures in early life may lead to dietary strategies that provide more tolerogenic conditions during early immune programming and reduce the burden of many inflammatory diseases, not just allergy.
authors.affiliation: Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rueter
authors.affiliation: Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.affiliation: School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Debra J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Palmer
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D056692:Prebiotics; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D019936:Probiotics
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D056692:Prebiotics
keywords: allergy prevention; fatty acid; nutrition; prebiotics; probiotics; vitamin D