Discussion
’ breast milk, breast milk, eczema
FOOD ALLERGY, EGG ALLERGY, ECZEMA
This multicenter RCT with high adherence (97.6%) and follow-up rates (96.6%) determined the effect of maternal egg intake during the early neonatal period (0-5 days) on the development of EA in infants aged 12 months. The proportion of neonates aged 3 to 4 days with OVA and OVM detected in their mothers’ breast milk was higher in the MEC group than in the MEE group. However, EA at age 12 months was not significantly different between the MEC and MEE groups (9.3% vs 7.6%).At the time of designing the current study, we hypothesized that egg consumption via breast milk in the early neonatal period prevented the development of EA, just as in the case of egg consumption in infancy.Egg allergy and sensitization to eggs tended to be higher in the MEC group, contrary to our original hypothesis. Consistently, a few studies suggested that neonatal exposure to food protein would promote the development of food allergy, unlike exposure in middle and late infancy.In the MEC group, the proportion of neonates with OVA and OVM detection in breast milk on days 3 and 4 was only 10.7%, which was lower than originally expected. In some previous trials, OVA was detected in mature milk in approximately 50% of infants 1 to 6 hours after their mothers ingested eggs.The post hoc analysis identified eczema at 1 month as a risk factor for EA development. Several cohort studies have consistently reported that eczema in early infancy is a risk factor for the subsequent development of EA.