Do you have an innovative idea on how you can make life better for those with food allergy?
Food Allergy Canada invites youth aged 12-21 to enter the #FoodAllergyFuture Challenge for a chance to win a grand prize value of $3,250.
The deadline to enter is April 15, 2020.
For details and to enter, visit Food Allergy Canada.
Source: AllerGen NCE
New research from the CHILD Cohort Study shows that frequent exposure to common household cleaning products can increase a child’s risk of developing asthma.
The study was published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It found that young infants (birth to three months) living in homes where household cleaning products were used frequently were more likely to develop childhood wheeze and asthma by three years of age.
“Infants typically spend up to 90% of their time indoors and are especially vulnerable to chemical exposures through the lungs and skin due to their higher respiration rates and regular contact with household surfaces,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Tim Takaro, a professor and clinician-scientist in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU).
The study used data from 2,022 children participating in the CHILD Cohort Study and examined their daily, weekly and monthly exposure to 26 types of household cleaners, including dishwashing and laundry detergents, cleaners, disinfectants, polishes, and air fresheners. The children were assessed at age three to determine whether they had asthma, recurrent wheeze or atopy (allergic sensitization).
While there appeared to be an association between early exposure to cleaning products and risk of asthma and wheeze, there appeared to be no association with atopy alone, the authors noted.
“Therefore, a proposed mechanism underlying these findings is that chemicals in cleaning products damage the cells that line the respiratory tract through innate inflammatory pathways rather than acquired allergic pathways,” added Dr. Takaro.
“The risks of recurrent wheeze and asthma were notably higher in homes with frequent use of certain products, such as liquid or solid air fresheners, plug-in deodorizers, dusting sprays, antimicrobial hand sanitizers and oven cleaners,” commented lead author Jaclyn Parks, a graduate student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU.
“It may be important for people to consider removing scented spray cleaning products from their cleaning routine. We believe that the smell of a healthy home is no smell at all!”
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Source: AllerGen NCE Inc.
Dr. Meghan Azad, an AllerGen investigator and Manitoba co-lead for the CHILD Cohort Study (CHILD), has been awarded a $6.5 million grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead an international consortium that will study global differences in breastmilk and establish a biorepository of human milk samples.
As Director of the new International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium, Dr. Azad will bring together five research groups studying maternal nutrition and infant growth in Tanzania, Pakistan, Nepal, Burkina Faso and Canada.
“This project will help us learn about how human milk helps human babies develop and grow up healthy,” she told CBC News.
Dr. Azad is an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba, a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease, and a research scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).
During the next three years, IMiC researchers will analyze breastmilk samples from 1,200 mother-infant pairs. Their aim is to understand the components of human milk that influence infant growth and resilience in order to inform nutrition recommendations and interventions for moms and babies.
Dr. Azad said the grant will also allow her to continue analyzing the breastmilk samples collected in CHILD, with the goal of uncovering the role of maternal nutrition, infant feeding and human milk composition in the development and prevention of asthma, allergies, obesity and diabetes.
Read the University of Manitoba and CHRIM announcements.
Quality Sport Hub is creating positive sport experiences for as many people as possible, for as long as possible, and in the best environments possible. Quality Sport Hub offers tools, knowledge and expertise to activate quality sport experiences for people, teams and organizations at all levels.
Visit the new Quality Sport Hub website to learn more.
TD Park People Grants will provide $2000 to groups from Metro Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Greater Toronto Area, National Capital Region (Ottawa-Gatineau), Montreal, Quebec City or Halifax Regional Municipality, to build community and support environmental stewardship in your park or green space. Make your green space great with events like park clean-ups, tree-planting and movie nights.
Applications close on March 2nd.
Visit the TD Park People Grants website to get all of the details, helpful event ideas and application form.
