Infant Immune Function and the Effects of Breast Milk

by Catherine Clinton, ND

Introduction

Immune disorders like asthma, allergies, and autoimmunity have become predominant issues in both pediatric and adult healthcare.

An estimated 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, with 250,000 annual deaths attributed to the disease.1

Allergic diseases affect as many as 40 to 50 million Americans.2

Autoimmune diseases include more than 70 different disorders and affect approximately 5 percent of the U.S. population, or an estimated 23.5 million Americans.3

Early intervention as a means of preventing immune disorders later in life has become the subject of abundant research in recent years. Special attention must be paid to the infant’s developing immune system in order for this type of prevention to be a success. The infant is born with an immature immune system that doesn’t fully develop until several years after birth.4,5 Mounting evidence shows that breast milk is not only an excellent source of nutrition, but it also has a profound influence on the development of the immune system and thus, the pathogenesis of asthma, allergies, and autoimmunity. This paper will focus on immune development in infants and the use of breast milk as a potential prevention of immune disorders. We will briefly review the workings of a healthy, mature immune system before discussing the developing immune system of an infant and how breast milk best promotes its proper development.

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References

1 World Health Organization. Global surveillance, prevention and control of chronic respiratory diseases: a comprehensive approach. Global Alliance Against Chronic Respiratory Diseases. http://www.who.int/gard/publications/GARD_Manual/ en/index.html.
2007. Accessed July 27, 2010.
2 Airborne allergens: Something in the air. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 2003. NIH Publication No. 03-7045.
3 National Institutes of Health. Report of the Autoimmune Diseases Coordinating Committee. October 2000.
4 Gasparoni A, Ciardelli L, Avanzini A, Castellazzi AM, Carini R, Rondini G, Chirico G. Age-related changes in intracellular TH1/TH2 cytokine production, immunoproliferative T lymphocyte response and natural killer cell activity in newborns, children and adults. Biol Neonate. 2003;84:297-303.
5 Remington JS, Klein JO. Developmental immunology and role of host defenses in fetal and neonatal susceptibility to infection. Infectious diseases of the fetus and newborn infant, 6th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders. 2006

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