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Nature Reviews Immunology 8, 168 (1 March 2008) | doi:10.1038/nri2277

Allergy and Asthma: Mother knows best

Olive Leavy

There has been much debate as to whether breastfeeding can have a role in protection against allergic disease in babies, with epidemiological studies providing conflicting results. Now, Val|[eacute]|rie Julia and colleagues show that, in mice, an allergen inhaled by the mother is passed to her offspring in breast milk and results in protection against the development of allergic airway inflammation in the progeny.