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This Article Full Text (Publish Ahead of Print[PDF]) All Versions of this Article: 90/6/1693    most recent ajcn.2009.27963v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Marmsjö, K. Articles by Bergström, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marmsjö, K. Articles by Bergström, A. Agricola Articles by Marmsjö, K. Articles by Bergström, A.

Use of multivitamin supplements in relation to allergic disease in 8-y-old children^1,2,3

¹ From the Institute of Environmental Medicine (KM, HR, IK, NH, MW, GP, and AB) and the Sweden the Centre for Allergy Research (HR and IK), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and Sachs’ Children’s Hospital, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden (MW).

² Supported by the Stockholm County Council, the Heart and Lung Foundation, the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association, the Swedish Research Council Formas, the Swedish Foundation for Health Care Science and Allergy Research, and the Swedish Research Council.

³ Address correspondence to A Bergström, Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: anna.bergstrom{at}ki.se.

ABSTRACT

Background: Multivitamins are frequently consumed by children, but it is unclear whether this affects the risk of allergic disease.

Objective: We sought to study the association between multivitamin supplementation and allergic disease in 8-y-old children.

Design: Data were obtained from a Swedish birth cohort study. Information on lifestyle factors, including use of vitamin supplements, environmental exposures, and symptoms and diagnoses of allergic diseases, was obtained by parental questionnaires. In addition, allergen-specific IgE concentrations of food and airborne allergens were measured in blood samples collected at age 8 y. A total of 2423 children were included in the study. The association between use of vitamin supplements and the selected health outcomes was analyzed with logistic regression.

Results: Overall, no strong and consistent associations were observed between current multivitamin use and asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema, or atopic sensitization at age 8 y. However, children who reported that they started taking multivitamins before or at age 4 y had a decreased risk of sensitization to food allergens (odds ratio: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.97) and tendencies toward inverse associations with allergic rhinitis. In contrast, there was no consistent association among children who started to use multivitamins at or after age 5 y.

Conclusion: Our results show no association between current use of multivitamins and risk of allergic disease but suggest that supplementation with multivitamins during the first years of life may reduce the risk of allergic disease at school age.

Received for publication April 22, 2009. Accepted for publication September 29, 2009.