Childhood food allergies

Turke, Paul W.

doi:10.1093/emph/eox014

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…The past two decades have seen an increase in efforts to incorporate evolution instruction into collegiate-level health sciences education, and especially into medical training (Grunspan et al, 2018). During that time, evolutionary medicine has contributed a greater understanding of several important human health topics, such as heart disease (Swynghedauw, 2016), type 2 diabetes mellitus (Hales & Barker, 1992), cancer (Merlo et al, 2006), senescence and cognitive decline (Bufill et al, 2013), allergies (Turke, 2017), and infectious diseases (Sorci et al, 2016). Health promotion, like medicine, is an interdisciplinary field borrowing from many fields-including chemistry, physics, genetics, public health, education, and epidemiology-yet the field trails behind current medical school curricula in that most undergraduate health promotion students do not receive training in evolution by natural selection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Evolutionary Principles in Health Promotion: A Pilot Study

Wingert

Hale

2020

Pedagogy in Health Promotion

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Introduction. Teaching evolutionary principles in a health promotion course may increase the relevance of evolutionary theory to students, enrich biological understanding of disease, and provide a unique perspective on how evolution can affect human health and disease. This pilot study examined the extent to which evolution instruction in an undergraduate college-level health promotion course affects learning the fundamental concepts of evolution by natural selection, student misconceptions of evolution, and student acceptance of evolution, compared with evolution instruction in a biology course. Methods. Pre–post course surveys measured student understanding of evolution measured with the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection, student misconception related to endorsement of teleological reasoning, and student level of acceptance of evolution, along with several demographic variables. Ninety-four ( n = 94) undergraduate student participants were enrolled in one of three courses: an Evolution-Health course, an Evolution-Biology course, and a Human Physiology course. Results. Students significantly improved their Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection scores in both Evolution-Health ( p = .0005) and Evolution-Biology ( p = .015). Student misconceptions of evolution significantly decreased ( p = .0034), and acceptance of human evolution increased ( p = .031) in the Evolution-Health course only. Change in natural selection understanding over the course of the semester was modestly negatively correlated with change in teleological reasoning ( r = −.21, p = 0.047), such that students with larger decreases in teleological reasoning had greater learning gains in natural selection understanding. Conclusions. This study provides preliminary evidence that evolutionary instruction in a college-level health promotion context improves understanding of fundamental evolutionary concepts, decreases student misconceptions related to teleological reasoning, and improves acceptance of human evolution.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Evolutionary Principles in Health Promotion: A Pilot Study

Wingert

Hale

2020

Pedagogy in Health Promotion

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“…For humans, this mismatch can result from environments that have dramatically shifted away from natural landscapes and towards urban or industrialised settings (Mills et al ., 2017; Manus, 2018). Such eco‐evolutionary disparity is suggested to be at the foundation of many modern illnesses, including allergies (Turke, 2017), obesity (Power & Schulkin, 2013), heart disease (Carrera‐Bastos et al ., 2011; Turaman, 2022), reproductive dysfunction (Charifson & Trumble, 2019), and even psychological disorders (Li, van Vugt & Colarelli, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating microbiome science and evolutionary medicine into animal health and conservation

Bornbusch,

Power,

Schulkin

et al. 2023

Biological Reviews

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Microbiome science has provided groundbreaking insights into human and animal health. Similarly, evolutionary medicine – the incorporation of eco‐evolutionary concepts into primarily human medical theory and practice – is increasingly recognised for its novel perspectives on modern diseases. Studies of host–microbe relationships have been expanded beyond humans to include a wide range of animal taxa, adding new facets to our understanding of animal ecology, evolution, behaviour, and health. In this review, we propose that a broader application of evolutionary medicine, combined with microbiome science, can provide valuable and innovative perspectives on animal care and conservation. First, we draw on classic ecological principles, such as alternative stable states, to propose an eco‐evolutionary framework for understanding variation in animal microbiomes and their role in animal health and wellbeing. With a focus on mammalian gut microbiomes, we apply this framework to populations of animals under human care, with particular relevance to the many animal species that suffer diseases linked to gut microbial dysfunction (e.g. gut distress and infection, autoimmune disorders, obesity). We discuss diet and microbial landscapes (i.e. the microbes in the animal's external environment), as two factors that are (i) proposed to represent evolutionary mismatches for captive animals, (ii) linked to gut microbiome structure and function, and (iii) potentially best understood from an evolutionary medicine perspective. Keeping within our evolutionary framework, we highlight the potential benefits – and pitfalls – of modern microbial therapies, such as pre‐ and probiotics, faecal microbiota transplants, and microbial rewilding. We discuss the limited, yet growing, empirical evidence for the use of microbial therapies to modulate animal gut microbiomes beneficially. Interspersed throughout, we propose 12 actionable steps, grounded in evolutionary medicine, that can be applied to practical animal care and management. We encourage that these actionable steps be paired with integration of eco‐evolutionary perspectives into our definitions of appropriate animal care standards. The evolutionary perspectives proposed herein may be best appreciated when applied to the broad diversity of species under human care, rather than when solely focused on humans. We urge animal care professionals, veterinarians, nutritionists, scientists, and others to collaborate on these efforts, allowing for simultaneous care of animal patients and the generation of valuable empirical data.

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“…The aetiology of food allergy remains largely unknown, but the disease is believed to arise from the complex interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors. Several environmental factors have been reported to modify the risk for food allergy, including urbanization, infant formula feeding, consumption of processed foods, antibiotic use, delivery by caesarean section and decreased incidence of infections 1,6,7 . The recently formulated epithelial barrier hypothesis proposes that these environmental exposures affect epithelial integrity leading to increased allergy either directly due to increased permeability to allergens and/or due to changes in microbiota composition leading to bacterial translocation and tissue microinflammation 8,9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several environmental factors have been reported to modify the risk for food allergy, including urbanization, infant formula feeding, consumption of processed foods, antibiotic use, delivery by caesarean section and decreased incidence of infections. 1 , 6 , 7 The recently formulated epithelial barrier hypothesis proposes that these environmental exposures affect epithelial integrity leading to increased allergy either directly due to increased permeability to allergens and/or due to changes in microbiota composition leading to bacterial translocation and tissue microinflammation. 8 , 9 The risk of food allergy development is affected by factors that may modify the gut microbiota composition, which in turn may shape disease risk by affecting gut immune function.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amoxicillin does not affect the development of cow’s milk allergy in a Brown Norway rat model

et al. 2022

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The use of antibiotics as well as changes in the gut microbiota have been linked to development of food allergy in childhood. It remains unknown whether administration of a single clinically relevant antibiotic directly promotes food allergy development when administrated during the sensitisation phase in an experimental animal model. We investigated whether the antibiotic amoxicillin affected gut microbiota composition, development of cow's milk allergy (CMA) and frequencies of allergic effector cells and regulatory T cells in the intestine. Brown Norway rats were given daily oral gavages of amoxicillin for six weeks and whey protein concentrate (WPC) with or without cholera toxin three times per week for the last five weeks. Microbiota composition in faeces and small intestine was analysed by 16S rRNA sequencing. The development of CMA was assessed by WPC‐specific IgE in serum, ear swelling response to WPC and body hypothermia following oral gavage of WPC. Allergic effector cells were analysed by histology, and frequencies of regulatory and activated T cells were analysed by flow cytometry. Amoxicillin administration reduced faecal microbiota diversity, reduced the relative abundance of Firmicutes and increased the abundance of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. Despite these effects, amoxicillin did not affect the development of CMA, nor the frequencies of allergic effector cells or regulatory T cells. Thus, amoxicillin does not carry a direct risk for food allergy development when administrated in an experimental model of allergic sensitisation to WPC via the gut. This finding suggests that confounding factors may better explain the epidemiological link between antibiotic use and food allergy.

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Childhood food allergies

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Teaching Evolutionary Principles in Health Promotion: A Pilot Study

Teaching Evolutionary Principles in Health Promotion: A Pilot Study

Integrating microbiome science and evolutionary medicine into animal health and conservation

Amoxicillin does not affect the development of cow’s milk allergy in a Brown Norway rat model

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