A suplementação com probióticos é eficaz no tratamento de alergia alimentar em crianças? Revisão integrativa

Abstract

Introduction: Food allergies are defined as an adverse immunological reaction that is repeated through exposure to a particular food. These reactions range from anaphylaxis (more severe) to gastrointestinal manifestations.Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of probiotics in the treatment of food allergies in children, relieving symptoms or inducing tolerance, identifying the most effective strain, dosage and adverse effects. Methodology:This is an integrative literature review. We performed a systematic search using the keywords “probiotics”, “treatment”, “food allergy”, “children”, and “infant” in the following scientific databases: ScienceDirect, SciELO, BVS, LILACS, PubMed, and MEDLINE. After applying the exclusion criteria, we selected four randomized clinical trials, five reviews and one meta-analysis. In all of them, the children were diagnosed with cow’s milk allergy. Results:The studies have indicated that the use of extensively hydrolysed milk formula with the addition of Lactobacillus rhamnosus with dosage ranging from 1x106 to 5x108 cfu/g is effective in inducing tolerance and reducing severity of eczema in infants with no history of anaphylactic symptoms. Conclusions:There is limited evidence that the use of extensively hydrolysed milk formula with the addition of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, at doses of 1x10^6 to 5x10^8 cfu/g, is effective in both accelerating the improvement of atopic eczema and in inducing tolerance in children aged 1 month to 3 years who do not have anaphylactic reactions to cow's milk. Thus, further clinical trials with larger sample sizes should be conducted before probiotics are included in clinical practice, including to further evaluate their safety profile