A new study is making headlines for linking baby wipes to the development of food allergies in some children.
But a local pediatric allergist says parents shouldn't be worried just yet.
The study, published by Northwestern University, says food allergies can be linked to a “perfect storm” of genetics and use of baby wipes. The study used mice as test subjects.
Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, the Director of the Food Challenge and Research Unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado, points out – this study was done on mice, not humans.
“This is a mouse model of how allergy could be caused,” Dr. Greenhawt said. “And I would say, we have caused and cured a lot of things in mice that have never translated to humans.”
After reviewing the study, he said it’s built on “very good” mouse model research.
“I think this is how we certainly make breakthroughs in science by studying this in animals and figuring out what would have to happen in humans, but we’re a long way from there.”
Greenhawt said there is a lot of research going on to find out what, exactly, causes allergic diseases in children. And he says it’s usually a combination of factors that could include exposure to certain foods, individual genetics, or many other things.
“There is no one, single determinate of why somebody has an allergy or not,” he said. “I do wish it would be that easy, but we are just not getting that lucky in this field. It’s a very complex interaction of a number of different things.”
And Greenhawt doesn’t recommend parents change their diaper changing habits just because of one study.
“My takeaway to parents would be, don’t panic. Don’t stop using baby wipes per se. I mean, do that if that’s your choice. From my own experience, you’re going to want to wipe them with something.”
For parents of children with food allergies already, he offers this take:
“To parents out there of children with peanut allergies, by no means does it indicate that because you used a wipe when your child was a newborn, and that child happened to have eczema or dry skin, this is not cause and effect,” he said.”
