Food Allergies May Be Due To A Lack Of A Certain Gut Bacteria, Study

A noteworthy new study, released this week by scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, says that a lack of certain gut bacteria is actually what’s driving many food allergies. It’s still too early to say for sure, but these findings could go on to shape the future of food allergy prevention and treatment in kids and adults worldwide.

First, the team at Boston Children’s Hospital collected stool samples from 56 young patients who suffered from food allergies and 98 who didn’t. They found that the stool from the food allergy sufferers did indeed have some different bacteria than the control stool.

From there, they extracted fecal bacteria from both groups and transplanted it to mice who suffered from egg allergies. That’s where things got interesting: The team found that the mice who were given the bacteria from the control stool didn’t have an allergic reaction when subsequently fed small doses of chicken egg protein.

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