A hot topic of discussion at the international allergists conference in Warsaw, Poland, is how to combat the rise in allergies and asthma, and some are looking to breast milk for help. International experts agree that there's a critical window of development when children are susceptible to environmental factors that put them at risk for allergies and asthma. That period is from birth to three years old.  

Several studies presented found that women who exclusively breastfed for at last four months lowered their baby's risk of getting eczema. Since eczema is one of the first manifestations of allergies in infants and increases a child's risk of developing asthma later on, reducing eczema can have important lifelong implications.  One study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden followed more than 4,000 newborn babies for eight years. Children who were exclusively breast fed for four months or more had about an 11 percent reduction in risk. When those who already had eczema during the time of breast feeding were excluded from the analysis (because with these allergic children, it couldn't be considered prevention), the risk of eczema at eight years of age was reduced by 27 percent. Children who were partially breast fed did not have these protective benefits.

Another path of eczema prevention relating to milk allergies may be the use of hydrolyzed formula, where the milk protein is broken down or "predigested." A study from Germany found that this type of formula reduced the risk of eczema, especially in high risk children.

Other interesting prevention studies surrounding children's diets were presented. One study from the University of Gothenberg in Sweden found that children who were introduced to fish before nine months of age had a decreased risk of chronic wheezing at age four, and a decreased risk of wheezing that had to be treated with coritcosteroids. It didn't seem to matter what type of fish they ate or how often they ate it. They also looked at exclusive breastfeeding and corroborated the results of the other Swedish study.  Breast is best!

Laurie Tarkan is a health reporter covering the Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Warsaw, Poland. She writes for the New York Times and national magazines, and is the author of two books on pregnancy  and infertility.  She has recently launched her own allergy blog.