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Ingestion of prebiotics during pregnancy and lactation may have immunomodulatory benefits for the developing fetal and infant immune system and provide a potential dietary strategy to reduce the risk of allergic diseases. We sought to determine whether maternal supplementation with dietary prebiotics reduces the risk of allergic outcomes in infants with hereditary risk.

Professor Desiree Silva with the 1000th family - Jess, Michael and Eli   The multimillion-dollar ORIGINS Project, an extensive community-based

Early infancy is a critical period for immune development. In addition to being the primary food source during early infancy, human milk also provides multiple bioactive components that shape the infant gut microbiome and immune system and provides a constant source of exposure to maternal microbiota. Given the potential interplay between allergic diseases and the human microbiome, this study aimed to characterise the milk microbiome of allergic mothers.

ORIGINS has several sub-projects exploring allergy development within the cohort, with a focus on respiratory conditions such as asthma and nutritional strategies for allergy prevention.

As well as ORIGINS long-term core research, there are a number of clinical trials, early interventions and shorter-term research studies that sit within ORIGINS. Known as sub-projects, these studies look at multiple aspects of child and family health and development.

ORIGINS has officially reached the study's five-year goal of recruiting 4,000 active participants to the project and has closed recruitment of new families into the active cohort.

By participating in ORIGINS, you are contributing to one of the largest and most comprehensive birth cohort studies ever.

Learn about our timepoints for online questionnaires and Kids Check Appointments.

ORIGINS is an interventional cohort study, meaning participants receive timely feedback and an action plan to address any potential abnormalities.

Researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have been awarded a $1.1 million NHMRC ‘Targeted Call for Hearing Health’ grant to conduct the first ever study following Aboriginal babies from birth through to five years to uncover the true prevalence of middle ear infections and hearing loss.