Will the New Little Prince or Princess of Cambridge Have Food Allergies?

Yes, this entire column is just an excuse to post these photos

I admit it. My guilty pleasure is reading all the British royalty news about the new Ruler of the Seas To Be. But a line in an article the other day caught my eye:

"A hospital porter added...'they have been cleaning the floor inside and outside of the ward. They've re-painted.'" 

I might be the only person in the world who would immediately think of food allergies upon reading that...but it's not as far-fetched as you think.

There are definitely some provocative associations when it comes to allergies, and exposure to new nursery paint is one of them.  Boy babies exposed to new paint and fungus during the first six months of their lives had several times the rate of eczema that daughters without these exposures did. (Eczema is often a precursor to food allergies.)

Love the bored flower girl!

So what else might predispose the young prince or princess to become one of our fold?

• Family history: Kate is known to have environmental allergies to horses. While the royals are pretty tight-lipped about family maladies, Prince Charles is also known to have severe allergies. (He actually wrote a passionate essay on allergies that raises many of the same issues I've talked about in this column.) If both parents have allergies (and I assume Will probably does, given his dad's strong history), the child has a 75% chance of allergies as well.

• Hospital delivery, especially if C-section: one can assume they will be taking no risks with the life of the future Head of the Commonwealth, so the odds of Kate having a c-section (especially since this is a first baby) are high. While results are not conclusive, the systematic review of studies for c-section and food allergy have shown an association. The lack of exposure to flora in the birth canal, resulting in poor gastrointestinal colonization of helpful bacteria, may be the culprit. Some doctors even go so far as to swab the insides of the mother's whoo-haa and then place it in the baby's mouth to combat this issue!

• Not breastfeeding: given her hectic social schedule, I would not be surprised if Kate skips it altogether. Even if she chooses to breastfeed, she may not last longer than the British norm (only 50% of British mothers are still breastfeeding at 6 weeks). Breastfeeding is generally thought to be protective against allergies, although studies are not completely clear. 

• Avoiding allergens during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding: in 2011, Kate and Will made news with Peanutgate when the media jumped to the conclusion that Kate must be pregnant because she was avoiding eating peanut paste. While it turned out she was not pregnant at that time, this pervasive idea that avoiding allergens during pregnancy lessens the chance of developing allergies in the newborn is a very bad one. No way to know if she avoided once she was pregnant...but eating potential allergens during pregnancy appears to be more protective than problematic.

• Not eating seafood: guess what? The royal family supposedly avoids seafood. That's not good. Consumption of fish seems to help prevent the development of allergies.

• Birth order: first-born babies have a higher incidence of food allergy. 

• Issues with vitamin deficiency/supplementation: we know Kate had hyperemesis gravidarum, or life-threatening morning sickness. No doubt she was given vitamin supplements to make up for all the illness in her early months. Unfortunately, vitamin supplementation (and in particular, vitamin D) has been associated with an increase in food allergies. 

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