Abstract

Rice products marketed in the USA, including baby rice cereal, contain inorganic arsenic, a putative immunotoxin. We sought to determine whether the timing of introduction of rice cereal in the first year of life influences occurrence of infections, respiratory symptoms, and allergy. Among 572 infants from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, we used generalized estimating equation, adjusted for maternal smoking during pregnancy, marital status, education attainment, pre-pregnancy body mass index, maternal age at enrollment, infant birth weight, and breastfeeding history. Among 572 infants, each month earlier of introduction to rice cereal was associated with increased risks of subsequent upper respiratory tract infections (relative risk, RR = 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00–1.09); lower respiratory tract infections (RR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.02–1.39); acute respiratory symptoms including wheeze, difficulty breathing, and cough (RR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.00–1.22); fever requiring a prescription medicine (RR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.02–1.45) and allergy diagnosed by a physician (RR = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.06–1.36). No clear associations were observed with gastrointestinal symptoms. Our findings suggest that introduction of rice cereal earlier may influence infants’ susceptibility to respiratory infections and allergy.

Details

Title
Infant infections, respiratory symptoms, and allergy in relation to timing of rice cereal introduction in a United States cohort
Author
Moroishi Yuka 1 ; Signes-Pastor, Antonio J 2 ; Li, Zhigang 3 ; Cottingham, Kathryn L 4 ; Jackson, Brian P 5 ; Punshon Tracy 4 ; Madan Juliette 6 ; Nadeau, Kari 7 ; Jiang, Gui 8 ; Karagas, Margaret R 9 

 Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Epidemiology, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404); Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Biomedical Data Science, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404) 
 Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Epidemiology, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404) 
 University of Florida, Department of Biostatistics, Gainesville, USA (GRID:grid.15276.37) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8091) 
 Dartmouth College, Department of Biological Sciences, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404); Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) 
 Dartmouth College, Department of Earth Sciences, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404) 
 Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Epidemiology, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404); Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3); Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth, Department of Pediatrics, Lebanon, USA (GRID:grid.414110.1) 
 Stanford University School of Medicine, Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research, Stanford, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956) 
 Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Biomedical Data Science, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404) 
 Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Epidemiology, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 2404); Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, USA (GRID:grid.254880.3) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2639132250
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.