"Caveman Diet" may prevent allergies

The so-called "Caveman Diet" may protect against allergies, researchers have found.

Scientists compared youngsters from a rural African village with another group living in Florence in Italy and found a dramatic difference.

The diet of the children living in the small village of Boulon in Burkina Faso was similar to that of people living in the modern Western world thousands of years ago, shortly after the birth of agriculture. It consisted mainly of cereals, beans, nuts and vegetables. The Italian children ate higher quantities of meat, fat and sugar.

The African children were found to have a greater abundance of fatty acids which protect against the inflammation that causes asthma, eczema and other allergic reactions experienced by Medical ID wearers.

Paediatrician Dr Paolo Lionetti, of Florence University, and colleagues said children in industrialised countries who eat low-fibre, high-sugar 'Western' diets may reduce microbial richness - potentially contributing to a rise in allergic and inflammatory diseases in the last half-century.

Only the Italian children who were still breast-feeding harboured bacteria resembling the African children's - indicating diet may be more important than other factors such as ethnicity, sanitation, geography or climate, say the researchers.