Probiotics That Can Ward Off Cow’s Milk Allergy

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Naples and the University of Chicago found that a specific probiotic strain could flip the switch on a cow milk allergy, turning it off. The common probiotic strain is known as Lactobacillus rhamnosus and it naturally thrives in fermented foods – including milk kefir.

Over the last 20 years, food allergies have become more common, with cow’s milk allergy impacting around 3% of children worldwide and 8% of children in the United States. The clincher here is that allergies are on the rise.

But according to this study, formula-fed babies who receive L. rhamnosus are less likely to develop cow’s milk allergy than those who don’t. It appears that this has something to do with the fatty acids – or fat molecules – that good bacteria naturally make as they build up a communities in the gut.

Babies who didn’t respond to the probiotic – and still had an allergy to cow’s milk – had very different tribes of bacteria. This shows a pretty clear link between the bacteria in your baby’s gut and the development of food allergies.

Jack Gilbert, a co-author of the study and a microbial ecologist at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, explains

We already know that the addition of probiotics helps children. We think if we can figure out which probiotics to add to boost their system more effectively, then we’ll have a much more effective treatment.

If formula isn’t an option, but you still want to expose your baby to this particular probiotic, you can do two things:

1. Take a probiotic supplement that contains L. rhamnosus, which will show up in your breast milk and may even protect your baby against the development of eczema.
2. Offer your baby homemade milk kefir, which has been found to contain L. rhamnousus.

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