With food allergies now affecting more than one in every 10 children, new research at The Kids Research Institute Australia will look at the diets of mums to see if regularly eating more eggs or peanuts during pregnancy and while breastfeeding will reduce allergies in their babies.
This research project was one of five project grants recently awarded to The Kids by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to boost understanding of issues affecting children including rheumatic fever, lung health, cystic fibrosis and allergies. The successful research projects include:
With the University of Western Australia
- Luke Garratt, Anthony Kicic and Stephen Stick – Neutrophil reprogramming in response to epithelial insults in early cystic fibrosis airway disease.
- Debbie Palmer and Susan Prescott – Maternal diet rich in eggs and peanuts to reduce food allergies: a randomised controlled trial.
- Jonathan Carapetis, Anthony Bosco, Patrick Holt and Glenn Pearson – Towards a diagnostic test for rheumatic fever.
With Curtin University
- Graham Hall, Shannon Simpson and Tim Rosenow – Predicting the long-term lung health outcomes in young adults born very preterm.
- Shannon Simpson – Active lung disease in survivors of preterm birth? Can we treat it?
Two researchers were also awarded NHMRC Post Graduate Scholarships with Charlie McLeod investigating ways to improve the design of pragmatic clinical trials in children and Rosemary Wyber looking at evidence-based policy to end rheumatic heart disease in Australia.