◎國際新聞中心

Babies born in autumn or winter are more likely to develop a food allergy than those born in spring or summer, US researchers have found. The Boston scientists believe the trend may be explained by a lack of the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D.

美國研究發現，秋冬出生的寶寶，比出生在春夏的小孩容易食物過敏。波士頓的科學家認為，這個趨勢或許能以他們缺乏陽光維他命，也就是維他命D來解釋。

Vitamin D from natural sun exposure is needed for the healthy development of a child’s immune system, experts believe. And winter babies tend to get less sun, they explain in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

專家認為，接觸天然陽光取得的維他命D，是孩子免疫系統健康發育所必需，而寶寶在冬天曬的陽光通常比較少，他們在《過敏、氣喘與免疫學年報》中解釋。

The doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston reviewed all of 1,002 patients with food allergies who had been seen in three local hospital emergency departments over a period of six years. They then compared the months of birth in patients with food allergy with those of patients visiting the emergency rooms for reasons other than food allergy.

波士頓麻州綜合醫院的醫生，評估當地3個急診室6年間的1002名食物過敏病患，接著比較食物過敏病患，以及因食物過敏之外原因掛急診的病患的出生月份。

From this a trend emerged - allergies appeared to be linked with season of birth, but only in the patients who were aged five or younger. Of the children treated for allergy aged under five, 41% were born in spring or summer compared with 59% in autumn or winter.

從比較發現一種趨勢：過敏與出生季節有關，但只有在5歲以下病患發現這樣的關聯。在因為過敏接受治療的5歲以下孩童之中，41%出生在春夏，59%出生在秋冬。

The researchers acknowledge that other factors, such as infections, family history of allergies, maternal and infant dietary patterns, and exposure to indoor pollutants, may contribute to food allergies.

But they believe that vitamin D deficiency, and hence month of birth, "is a significant potential risk factor" in the development of food allergies.

研究人員坦承其他如感染、家庭過敏病史、母親與嬰兒的飲食模式、接觸戶外汙染物等原因，或許會造成食物過敏，但他們相信，缺乏維他命Ｄ以及出生的月份，是食物過敏「最顯著的潛在危險因子」。

新聞辭典

prone：形容詞，有…傾向的。例句：She’s prone to exaggerate, that’s for sure.（她很常誇大，那是肯定的。）

maternal：形容詞，母親的，母系的。例句：Her maternal grandmother is still alive.（她的外婆還健在。）

deficiency：名詞，缺乏。例句：Pregnant women often suffer from iron deficiency.（孕婦常常有缺鐵問題。）

自由時報-990429