Probiotics
New Guidelines for Allergic Disease Prevention
Allergic diseases represent a spectrum of health conditions and a worldwide burden in different populations. In the field of allergy and immunology the focus on prevention has become as important as effective disease management. Now for the first time there are guidelines that recommend proactive strategies for the prevention of allergic diseases. The World Allergy Organization (WAO) has published the WAO and McMaster Guidelines for Allergic Disease Prevention (GLAD-P): Probiotics.
During the development of the first guidelines on probiotics, Alessandro Fiocchi, MD, and Ruby Pawankar, MD, PhD, led an author panel of internationally known allergists, allergy patient representatives, and evidence-based medicine experts. The Guidelines for Atopic Disease Prevention (GLAD-P) project is a joint effort of the World Allergy Organization (WAO) and the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University. The panel evaluates the current evidence on the preventive effect of probiotics, prebiotics, and vitamin D on allergic diseases and related clinically important outcomes.
“The purpose of this document is to evaluate the current evidence and provide guidance on the use of probiotics for the primary prevention of allergies,” said Professor Alessandro Fiocchi. “Probiotics when administered to humans in certain doses may confer a health benefit, and thus they are being advocated as possible therapeutic and preventive interventions for allergic diseases.”
“In recent years, more attention has been given to the intestinal microbiota and its influence on sensitization and the origins of allergic disease, as it may modulate immunologic and inflammatory systemic responses,” said Lanny Rosenwasser, MD. “This paper from the World Allergy Organization will provide an important criterion for our current understanding of probiotics as it moves forward. The group who has worked on this project should be applauded for the excellence of this document.”
A press conference will be held on Wednesday, 28 January 2015 at 11:00 a.m. UTC at the Centro Congressi Fontana de Trevi – Piazza della Pilotta in Roma, Italy. The key presenters will be:
• Giuseppe Profiti, President of the Hospital Bambino Gesù in Roma, Italy
• Lanny J. Rosenwasser, MD, President of the World Allergy Organization and Chair of Pediatric Immunology Research at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, USA
• James Sublett, MD, President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) and Co-Founder and Partner of Family Allergy and Asthma in Louisville, Kentucky, USA
• Ruby Pawankar, MD, PhD, Immediate Past-President of World Allergy Organization and Professor of Allergy at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, Japan
• Holger Schünemann, MD, MSc, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatics at McMaster University, and
• Alessandro Fiocchi, MD, Director of Allergy at the Pediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù in Roma, Italy
*GRADE is the acronym in medicine for Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation.
An annual symposium on Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) in allergy will host the presentation of the guidelines in Rome on 29-30 January. For more information about the symposium, “EBM Prevention and Management of Pediatric Allergy: Myth or Reality”, visit: http://mitorealta.biomedia.net/.
Source: Press Release World Allergy Organization (WAO)
26.01.2015
