Allergy prevention through breastfeeding

Purpose of review To perform a nonsystematic review of the literature on the role of breastfeeding as primary prevention tool for allergic diseases. Recent findings Human milk contains vast amounts of biologically active components that have a significant impact on the development of the gut microbiota. Exclusively breastfed infants show a different microbiota, with a predominance of Bifidobacterium species in their intestines. The mechanisms underlying the antiallergic effects of human milk are most probably complex, as human milk contains not only nutritional substances but also functional molecules including polysaccharides, cytokines, proteins, and other components which can produce an epigenetic modulation of the innate and adaptive immune responses of the infant in very early life. Summary Currently, there is not sufficient strong evidence to guarantee its effectiveness in allergy prevention and therefore the main international scientific societies still do not count it among the recognized primary prevention strategies of allergy.