New study links emotion and the whole person when it come to illness.
Moving house or the separation of parents can significantly increase the risk of children developing allergies later on. These are the results from a long-term study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies. The study is published in journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.
The study was lead by Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the “Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung” (IUF) in Duesseldorf.
For the study, researchers examined blood samples taken from 234 six-year old children, finding increased blood concentrations of the stress-related peptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) in connection with moving house or the separation of parents. The neuropeptide VIP could take on a mediator role between stress events in life and the regulation of immune responses, researchers write.
While previous studies have linked stress events and the development of allergies, the mechanisms behind this however remained unexplained. THis study is the first large epidemiological study linking immune and stress markers to stress events.
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