A mother's microbiome may be linked to whether a child develops a food allergy

A new study draws a connection between bacteria in a pregnant woman’s microbiome and food allergy in her child. Prevotella copri, the particular microbe that was found more often in mothers whose babies did not develop egg, nut, milk, or other allergies during the first year of life, is not as abundant in Westernized populations. In the study of more than 1,000 mothers and their children, the researchers found other protective associations that came along with P. copri in the microbiome: a diet high in fat and fiber, larger households, and fewer antibiotics in the last trimester. The researchers say those results, previously seen in mice, hint at the hygiene hypothesis, which posits that a more sterile world means more allergies.