REVIEWS   

Minerva Pediatrica 2001 June;53(3):199-210

Copyright © 2001 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Transgenic foods, pesticides, dioxin, passive smoke. Consequences on breast milk

Cantani A., Micera M.

In recent years the efforts of companies manufacturing cow milk (CM) formulas have led to the development and availability of special formulas, which have dramatically reduced the morbidity of infants with food allergy (FA). However, the safety of several infants and children with food allergy is put to a severe test by transgenic foods, pesticides, and dioxin en-tering the scenario, also provoking breast milk contamination. Regarding transgenic foods, it is significant the attitude taken against people attempting to call them ''Frankenstein food'', whereas pesticides and dioxin present in dietary foods for infants and young children, after a first arising of alarmed and inflamed controversies, have almost fallen into oblivion. Several of these substances are able to trigger immune alterations. Recent reports have shown that pears can contain pesticides in 54% of cases, a finding which obliges us to review elimination diets devised for allergic babies. However, these foods are far from being ideal both from the nutritional adequacy and hypoallergenicity; moreover, passive smoke is now a genetic factor. We would like to stress, according to the Latin wisdom that stands on the portal of our Clinic ''in puero homo'', which means ''In infant is the seed of the future man'', that our goal is not only to reduce morbidity and mortality, but mainly to insure the best quality of life both to infants and adults.