THERE may be one more culprit to add to the long list of possible reasons for the rise in asthma and other allergies: birth by Caesarean section.
A study of 865 babies found that the 147 born by Caesarean suffered more digestive problems, and nearly twice as many developed food intolerances - both signs of inappropriate immune reactions (
"There may be long-term risks of Caesareans we've not considered before," says team member Sibylle Koletzko of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. "I would discourage it for all non-medical reasons."
The explanation might be that babies born by Caesarean do not get a chance to swallow beneficial bacteria during birth; colonisation of the gut plays a key role in the development ...
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