A new study finds that psychological stress and states of anxiety can worsen seasonal allergy attacks and prolong their occurence.

The study results were presented by researchers from Ohio Sate University, Columbus at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

In the presentation discussing how stress and anxiety can affect allergy sufferers Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the university said: "People may be setting themselves up to have more persistent problems by being stressed and anxious when allergy attacks begin."

A new study suggests mothers who routinely eat nuts or nut products during pregnancy may be unwittingly increasing the chances of their child going on to develop asthma.

Researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands tracked the eating habits of over 4,000 pregnant women during the final month of their pregnancies. They asked the women to record how often they ate vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, eggs, milk, milk products, nuts and nut products. Many of the foods in these food groups are known to be common allergens.

The researchers were able to maintain contact with 2832 of the mothers after they gave birth and went on to collect data on their children. Each child was followed from birth to age 8. Their diets were monitored and special attention given to any allergies or symptoms of asthma that might have developed.

A new study suggests that traffic pollution is to blame for increasing rates of allergy and atopic disease among kids by more than 50%.

The research was carried out at the German Research Center for Environment and Health at the Institute of Epidemiology, in Munich. The results are published in the June issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The researchers, led by Dr. Joachim Heinrich, found that exposure to pollutants from vehicle exhaust dramatically increased the risk of a child developing atopic diseases including hayfever, asthma and eczema.

New research finds that different conditions in the womb during pregnancy mean that first-born children are more likely to develop asthma and other allergies than their siblings.

In the first study of its kind a team of a team of researchers from the University of South Carolina studied 1200 newborn babies and their mothers from the Isle of Wight (United Kingdom). The scientists took samples of blood from the umbilical cord to look for indications of how well the immune system was functioning and for specific immune chemicals.

They measured levels of Immunoglobulin E (IgE), a chemical which is instrumental in bringing about the classical allergic response. Its presence triggers the release of histamine from certain cells in the body. Histamine being the chemical responsible for the common symptoms of allergies.