'Yoghurt bugs' to fight hayfever

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

Auckland researchers want to test on hayfever sufferers the effects of beneficial bugs related to those found in yoghurt.

Dr Peter Black, associate professor of medicine at the Auckland Medical School, said yesterday that he and colleagues wanted to recruit 40 people for the 10-week study.

Half would take two capsules a day containing the two micro-organisms, lactobacillus rhamnosus and bifidobacterium lactis. The rest would be given dummy "placebo" capsules.

The micro-organisms, called "probiotics" because of their intended health benefits, are slightly different strains but the same species as those found in yoghurt and in the gut of some people.

"These are strains that have been particularly selected out as potentially particularly beneficial," said Dr Black.

Around one in five people in New Zealand suffered hayfever, he said, and in the Western World, allergy-related disease rates had doubled in the last 20 years.

Hayfever symptoms include sneezing, runny or blocked nose, itchy eyes and throat, and tiredness.

Those who suffer it seasonally can be allergic to pollens, while those who have it all year are usually allergic to house-dust mites.

The researchers want to recruit for their study only adults who suffer year round and as a result of house-dust.

Dr Black said researchers in Finland last year found that when children of parents with allergies were fed lactobacillus rhamnosus until they were six months old they were only half as likely as other children to develop eczema by the age of 2.

"Eczema, asthma and hayfever tend to track together. If you have one you are more likely to have the others. It's thought that the processes underlying the diseases are similar."

Studies had suggested that lactobacilli were less common in the gut of Westerners than in people from the Third World, and less common in children with allergies than those without.

Dr Black said dairy company Fonterra was financing the study, but the researchers had approached the company. The trial was independent and the researchers retained the right to publish the results, regardless of its outcome.

* People interested in participating in the study can call Auckland Hospital, 307-4949 ext 7653.

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