The Role of the Microbiome in Food Allergy: A Review

Abstract

Food allergies are common and estimated to affect 8% of children and 11% of adults in the United States. They pose a significant burden—physical, economic and social—to those affected. There is currently no available cure for food allergies. Emerging evidence suggests that the microbiome contributes to the development and manifestations of atopic disease. According to the hygiene hypothesis, children growing up with older siblings have a lower incidence of allergic disease compared with children from smaller families, due to their early exposure to microbes in the home. Research has also demonstrated that certain environmental exposures, such as a farming environment, during early life are associated with a diverse bacterial experience and reduced risk of allergic sensitization. Dysregulation in the homeostatic interaction between the host and the microbiome or gut dysbiosis appears to precede the development of food allergy, and the timing of such dysbiosis is critical. The microbiome affects food tolerance via the secretion of microbial metabolites (e.g., short chain fatty acids) and the expression of microbial cellular components. Understanding the biology of the microbiome and how it interacts with the host to maintain gut homeostasis is helpful in developing smarter therapeutic approaches. There are ongoing trials evaluating the benefits of probiotics and prebiotics, for the prevention and treatment of atopic diseases to correct the dysbiosis. However, the routine use of probiotics as an intervention for preventing allergic disease is not currently recommended. A new approach in microbial intervention is to attempt a more general modification of the gut microbiome, such as with fecal microbiota transplantation. Developing targeted bacterial therapies for food allergy may be promising for both the treatment and prevention of food allergy. Similarly, fecal microbiota transplantation is being explored as a potentially beneficial interventional approach. Overall, targeted bacterial therapies for food allergy may be promising for both the treatment and prevention of food allergy.

Impact of diet and the bacterial microbiome on the mucous barrier and immune disorders

“…A breakdown in tolerance can lead to adverse immune responses targeting food antigens. Dietary fibre and probiotic SCFA‐producing bacteria are proposed as therapeutic strategies for food allergy due to their ability to alter microbiome composition, promote immune tolerance and improve mucosal health and barrier function as reviewed recently 105‐107 …”

“…Dietary fibre and probiotic SCFA-producing bacteria are proposed as therapeutic strategies for food allergy due to their ability to alter microbiome composition, promote immune tolerance and improve mucosal health and barrier function as reviewed recently. [105][106][107] In human studies, the impact of fibre on GI barrier function depends on numerous factors, including the study population, GIT location and the type of fibre administered. A recent systematic review did not identify any studies demonstrating that lower fibre intake was a risk factor for intestinal permeability.…”

The Dietary Fiber Pectin: Health Benefits and Potential for the Treatment of Allergies by Modulation of Gut Microbiota

“…Supplementation of prebiotics as food ingredients has been proposed to prevent several inflammatory diseases [23][24][25][26][27] as well as allergies [10,28,29,30,31,32]. Cohort studies have indicated that one of the factors preceding the development of food allergies is gut dysbiosis [2,33,34]. Therefore, gut microbiota have gained attention as a target of intervention against allergies, especially with prebiotics.…”

Global Trends and Future Prospects of Child Nutrition: A Bibliometric Analysis of Highly Cited Papers

“…At present, in the treatment and prevention of food allergies, bacterial therapy has attracted more and more attention from scholars. They believe that one of the effective ways to prevent allergic diseases is fecal flora transplantation ( 63 , 64 ).…”