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ewborns that are not exclusively breast-fed may be more prone to allergies due to a weaker immune system, an expert says.

Hugo van Bever, an allergy specialist from the National University of Singapore (NUS), said nothing could actually prevent allergies in newborns because they could develop allergies shortly after birth.

“Exclusive breast-feeding for at least six months, however, is the best thing we can do to protect newborn babies from allergy. You can do nothing else but breast-feed your newborn baby, although it is not optimal,” Van Bever told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a two-day symposium on allergy and clinical immunology.

The symposium was held by the Jakarta Allergy and Clinical Immunology Network (JACIN) and Internal Medicine Department at the University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine.

Studies on childbearing women and newborns show that nothing works to prevent allergies in newborns except breast-feeding, although it is not a perfect anti-allergy, said Van Bever.

“People have been trying various measures to protect their newborns, such as cleaning their bedrooms and avoiding contact with dogs and cats, but it doesn’t work because an allergy is mainly a genetic problem.”

Breast-feeding, he explained, strengthened babies immune systems.

“Without breast-feeding, newborns may have a severe allergy once they develop the hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system.”

To produce quality breast milk, breast-feeding moms should maintain a healthy lifestyle by avoiding alcohol, not smoking and eating nutritious food.

“If we can find facts on vital substances of breast milk that may have a preventive role against allergies, we may improve the anti-allergic quality of breast milk by increasing anti-allergic potentials of breast milk.”

Many baby food companies produce good quality formula, but, he said, “There will never be a bottled milk or formula that is better than breast-feeding”.

Allergy and clinical immunology diseases, such as cold allergies, drug allergies, asthma, immune deficiency, urticaria and other atopic diseases, are the most common diseases in communities served by physicians both in polyclinics and patient care units in hospitals.

About 300 million people across the world, for example, have asthma, a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways.

Asthma continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Only 5 percent of patients manage to bring their asthma under control. Asthma remains a major problem throughout the world, yet providing quality health care for people with allergy and clinical immunology diseases remains a problem.

Samsuridjal Djauzi, an allergy expert from Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM), said that scientists had discovered various new medical treatments for allergy and clinical immunology diseases, but there were a number of obstacles.

“Few of our medical workers, especially those working at the community level, have up-date information on newly discovered therapeutics and disease management for allergy and clinical immunology illnesses, since such information is published only in medical journals,” he told the Post.

Sharing expertise, he said, might help medical workers at hospitals and community health centers in providing better therapy for people with allergy and clinical immunology diseases.