Drinking milk during breastfeeding can reduce food allergy in children Children of mothers who drink relatively more cow's milk during breastfeeding are at reduced risk of developing food allergies. That is the conclusion of researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, in a new study published in the scientific journal Nutrients. The result is based on a survey of more than 500 Swedish women's eating habits and the prevalence of allergies in their children at one year of age. "We have found that mothers of healthy one-year-olds consumed more cow's milk during breastfeeding than mothers of allergic one-year-olds. Though the association is clear, we do not claim that drinking cow's milk would be a general cure for food allergies." says Mia Stråvik, doctoral student in the Division of Food Science at Chalmers University of Technology, and first author of the study.