There has been a lot of interesting news on the allergy and asthma front this year. Some of it is cautionary; some of it is heartening. I’m putting it all together for a great group writing project hosted by Robert Hruzek of Middle Zone Musings. So take a stroll through the best of the news for 2009.

Let’s start with how to start your baby off right. The diet of a pregnant mom can truly help her child to avoid allergies and asthma! Did you know that it can be as easy as eating apples for pregnant moms to help their babies avoid asthma? Add fish to your diet as well, and you can reduce the chances of allergic eczema for your child.

However, there was more evidence that we all need to avoid plastics that contain phthalates: a specific phthalate called DEHP was shown to increase the severity of skin reactions, including allergic reactions. DEHP is found in common house dust, as well as vinyl flooring and carpet backing.

For those who wrestle with seasonal allergies, new sublingual grass allergy treatments were demonstrated to have real promise as a treatment. Sublingual allergy treatment involves minute to small doses of the allergen, taken by mouth and under the tongue, to help the body develop tolerance. Not only did this style of treatment appear to work for grass allergies, but it was also studied in relation to peanut allergies - and actually worked to help children with severe peanut allergies to develop tolerance! Given the toll that severe peanut and other food allergies take every year, this is the best news on the food allergy front in a long time.

Want to reduce your respiratory inflammation? Eat more broccoli! Researchers found that eating broccoli sprouts actually provided the maximum benefit for test subjects with allergic rhinitis.

As the year progressed, swine flu entered the picture. There was a lot of talk of vaccination development and later a lot of talk about getting the vaccine. Research on the efficacy of flu vaccines showed that babies under 24 months do not benefit at all and that adults only reduce their risk of flu by 6 per cent. Results were no better for asthmatics. While more research is needed, it is a sobering thought that vaccines may not provide the protection they are supposed to.

Another potentially critical finding in the year was that taking acetaminophen (known commonly under the brand name Tylenol) could raise the asthma risk for children and adults who use this common pain reliever and fever reducer.

Want some good news to finish with? New research shows that probiotics can help to reduce allergy risk in children. It’s a simple thing to do, and research shows that the good effects can last long after the probiotics are stopped.