Protection Against Allergy: Study in Rural Environment - Part IV

PASTURE is a birth cohort of children born to farm and non-farm women from rural areas across Europe. Five study centres Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and Finland enrolled 1133 children (farmers in about half of the children) to study the origins of asthma and atopy and to develop potential preventive strategies.

Previous results show a protective effect of farm exposure on allergic risk by livestock contacts and microbial exposures and by raw cow milk consumption in early age.

PASTURE Part IV is the 10-year follow up of this birth cohort. The primary objective is to characterize the allergic phenotype between 6 and 10 years old (asthma and allergic rhinitis) and to explain how early age exposures and particularly milk products consumption contribute in the process of allergic illness in childhood. A focus on the characterization of the protective biologically active components in raw milk and identification of immunological mechanisms are involved.