The Preventive Effect of Lactoferrin-Containing Yogurt on Gastroenteritis in Nursery School Children-Intervention Study for 15 Weeks.

To evaluate the effects of bovine lactoferrin (LF)-containing yogurt on gastroenteritis in nursery school children during the winter season, we conducted a randomized prospective study. A total of 1296 children were randomized into a group in which LF was provided in yogurt (LF group, n = 661) and a non-LF consumption group (control group, n = 635). The LF group was given LF-containing yogurt (100 mg/day) on all 5 weekdays for approximately 15 weeks, and the control group consumed fruit jelly instead of the yogurt. The final totals of 578 children as the LF group and 584 as the control group were analyzed. The total number of children who were absent from school due to vomiting was significantly lower in the LF group compared to the control, accounting for ≥3 days in any week: 10/234 (4.3%) vs. 49/584 (8.4%), respectively; p = 0.04. Regarding the relationship between absences due to vomiting and the consumption of the LF-containing yogurt, the adjusted odds ratio for absence due to vomiting was 2.48 (95% CI: 1.19-5.14) in the LF children who consumed LF-containing yogurt ≤2 days/week compared to the LF children who consumed the yogurt ≥ 3 days/week. The consumption of LF-containing yogurt (100 mg/day) for ≥3 days/week might help alleviate the symptom of vomiting in nursery school children during the winter.

Comparison of the prevalence and characteristics of food hypersensitivity among adolescent and older women.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although food hypersensitivity is a public health concern, its documentation among the elderly is limited. The current study aims to compare the prevalence and characteristics of food hypersensitivity among adolescent women between aged 18-24 with among older women >50 years of age. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: 660 female university students between the ages of 18 and 24 who volunteered were enrolled as adolescent subjects. 470 women >50 years old who visited the Health Care Centre of Kyoto Katsura Hospital for health check-ups were enrolled as the older subjects. A questionnaire created by ourselves asking the presence of food hypersensitivity, symptoms, causative food, personal or family history of other allergic disorders was distributed. RESULTS: The prevalence of food hypersensitivity was statistically similar between adolescent (8.2%) and older women (8.9%). Among them, only 24.1% of the adolescent women and 26.2% of the older women had been diagnosed by physicians as having food allergy. The main causative foods (fruits, shellfish and fish) and the manifestations relating to food hypersensitivity were almost identical between adolescent and older women. In both adolescent and older women, food hypersensitivity positive group showed significantly higher prevalence of personal or family history of allergic disorders than that in food hypersensitivity negative group. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that food hypersensitivity in older women should be given more attention because the prevalence of this condition was as common as that in adolescent women.