Infection in the first year of life can be deadly for an infant, and antibiotic treatment is often the first port of call. But such treatment may have a downside; new research from the University of South Carolina finds early antibiotic exposure could raise a child’s risk of food allergies.

Share on Pinterest Early antibiotic exposure could raise children’s risk of food allergies.

While the study did not investigate the reasons behind this association, the researchers say it is likely down to changes in gut microbiota as a result of antibiotic treatment.

Lead author Dr. Bryan Love, of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences at the South Carolina College of Pharmacy, and colleagues report their results in the journal Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology.

Previous research has suggested that changes to the composition of gut bacteria in early life can have negative implications for health, and antibiotics are known to do just that.

As a result, early antibiotic treatment has been associated with a number of conditions; a study published last year, for example, linked regular antibiotic use in children with increased risk of obesity, while another study associated early antibiotic use with increased asthma risk.

Past studies have also indicated that early antibiotic use alters gut bacteria in a way that sensitizes children to food allergies.

With this in mind, Dr. Love and colleagues set out to investigate whether antibiotic use in the first year of life may increase the risk of a food allergy diagnosis.