RELATIONSHIP OF EARLY WEANING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD ALLERGY: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Food allergy refers to the pathology that presents clinical manifestations when they develop immune responses to foreign substances. It is currently treated as a public health problem, due to the high increase in its incidence in recent decades. The main clinical reactions can be listed: urticaria, edema, diarrhea, runny nose, and anaphylactic shock. The World Health Organization advises exclusive breastfeeding until the baby is six months old. The process of weaning and food introduction, when performed incorrectly or early, has been shown to be a risk factor, which can increase the incidence of damage to health, such as the appearance of food allergy. The age group most affected by allergic reactions is preschoolers, because during this period it is observed that both the immune system and the gastrointestinal tract are immature, thus being more prone to the absorption of allergic molecules, due to the high permeability of the mucosa, developing hypersensitivity reactions. Taking this scenario into account, the objective of the present study is to understand how the practice of weaning and early food introduction are configured as triggering factors for food allergies and intolerances. A search was conducted in the Pubmed, Scielo, Google Scholar and Virtual Health Library (VHL) databases, selecting eight articles for the writing of the present study, using the narrative literature review method. Thus, it was possible to verify that early weaning is a risk factor for the development of food allergy.