Background: Food allergies can have serious physical, social, and financial consequences. This systematic review examined ways to prevent the development of food allergy in children and adults. Methods: Seven bibliographic databases were searched from their inception to September 30, 2012, for systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, quasirandomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before-and-after studies, interrupted time series studies, and prospective cohort studies. Experts were consulted for additional studies. There were no language or geographic restrictions. Two reviewers appraised the studies using appropriate tools. Data were not suitable for meta-analysis due to heterogeneity, so were narratively synthesized. Results: Seventy-four studies were included, one-third of which were of high quality. There was no good evidence to recommend that pregnant or breastfeeding women should change their diet or take supplements to prevent allergies in infants at high or normal risk. There were mixed findings about the preventive benefits of breastfeeding for infants at high or normal risk, but there was evidence to recommend avoiding cow's milk and substituting with extensively or partially hydrolyzed whey or casein formulas for infants at high risk for the first 4 months. Soy milk and delaying the introduction of solid foods beyond 4 months did not have preventive benefits in those at high or normal risk. There was very little evidence about strategies for preventing food allergy in older children or adults. Conclusions: There is much to learn about preventing food allergy, and this is a priority given the high societal and healthcare costs involved.

Objective To determine effectiveness of an intervention and follow-up of patients admitted following attempted suicide. Methods 300 patients admitted following attempted suicide allocated to an intervention (a session of psycho-education) and follow up or treatment as usual group using random numbers. The inclusion criteria included age above 12 years, having telephone access, and agreeing to participate in the research. Those residing in the Colombo Municipal area who did not have telephone access were given an additional option of home visits by area family health worker (FHW). Follow up was by telephone interviews or FHW visits while non-intervention subjects were traced at 18 months. Results 668 persons were initially interviewed and 300 recruited. The intervention arm had 151 allocated of whom 96 (64%) received telephone follow up and 55 (36%) received FHW visits, while in the non-intervention group this was 115 (77.1%) and 34 (22.9%), respectively. At 18 months there were 32 (10.6%) drop outs, with 135 in the intervention group while 132 in the non-intervention group. In the non-intervention group 39 (29.5%) requested support, 35 (26.5%) sought support and there were three (2.3%) suicides, five (3.8%) re-attempted suicides while in the intervention group these were 81 (59.3%), 76 (56.3%), one (0.7%) and three (2.2%), respectively. Conclusion Intervention group requested more support and had a lower trend towards repeat suicides. Telephone and FHW follow-up is a feasible method to provide information and support.