Allergies are on the rise in children and now researchers are discovering that allergies typically start with with dry, cracked skin, which leads to a chain reaction of allergic diseases known as the atopic march.
It begins in infancy with eczema and leads to food allergies, asthma and hay fever later in childhood.
According to a study done by researchers at National Jewish Health, the time of the year a baby is born also plays a major role for inception of atopic march.
Researchers found that children born in the fall were much more likely to experience all of the conditions associated with atopic march. Children with eczema often have high levels of a harmful bacteria called staph aureus on their skin, which weakens the skin’s ability to keep out allergens and pathogens.
Additional research is now being conducted to find out ways of protecting these allergy prone babies early in life to prevent food allergies as they grow by protecting the skin barrier.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
