Multivitamins may help cut allergy risk

Health supplements - multivitamins - do not prevent allergic illnesses in eight-year old children, a new study in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found.

The study led by K. Marmsjo and colleagues from Karolinska Institute in Sweden that daily supplementation of multivitamins had no effect on the incidence of allergic rhinitis, eczema, asthma or atopic sensitization in more than two thousand 8-year old children.

However, children who started the multivitamin supplementation before the age of four years were at 39 percent less likely to develop allergic illnesses.

The researchers concluded "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."

By David Liu