Children, who have experienced stress events in childhood, are exposed to a greater risk of developing allergies at later age.

Specialists from the research center "Helmholtz" in Leipzig found out that dramatic event such as serious illness or death of a family member, separation of parents or a change of the house increase children's pliability to allergies.

During the study the researchers analysed blood samples of 234 6-year old children. Some of them had moved to new houses, and others had divorced parents.

In the blood of children with divorced parents specialists found four times greater concentration of the associated with stress peptide VIP / vasoactive intestinal polypeptide / and increased concentration of immune markers such as Cytokine IL-4, related to the appearance of allergic reactions.

In the blood samples of children who had moved to new houses, the concentration of VIP was also increased.

Researchers believe that the neuropeptide in questions plays the role of mediator between stress events in life and regulation of immune reactions.

On one hand immune system is linked to stress and on the other - to allergies, specialists recall.