Pregnancy: Stress Controls Infantile Immune System
March 23rd 2010 -
Pregnant women should protect themselves against stress, otherwise the kids have a higher risk of developing asthma later. Now, a study conducted at the Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. The research group led by Rosalind J. Wright had tested the cord blood of neonates of allergic reactions. The team found that the child’s immune system often overreacted when the mothers were living in a stressful environment.
Wright and her team had distributed questionnaires to 557 families. They asked about family and financial problems, and violence in the environment and other stress factors. Then the group compared how the immune cells in cord blood of newborns react to different allergens. Enzymes from dust mites and some vegetable substances triggered greater allergic reaction in children whose mothers were living in a stressful environment.
The study authors suggest that the stress of the mother, the child’s immune system still influenced before birth. Perhaps the child should be prepared on environmental hazards that await it after birth. That the body’s defense this is hypersensitive to harmless substances that would be an unwanted side effect.
Tags: allergic reaction, asthma, cord blood, immune system, pregnant women, stress factors
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