Practical advice for building and improving tolerance as well as preventing symptoms and exacerbations
| Primary prevention |
| Support breastfeeding, with solid foods from 4–6 months onwards |
| Do not avoid exposure to environmental allergens (foods, pets), if not proven necessary |
| Strengthen immunity by increasing contact with natural environments (e.g. by taking regular physical exercise and following a healthy diet such as a traditional Mediterranean or Baltic diet) |
| Antibiotics should only be used in cases of true need (the majority of microbes are useful and build a healthy immune function) |
| Probiotic bacteria in fermented food or other preparations may balance the immune function |
| Do not smoke (parental smoking increases the risk of asthma in children) |
| Secondary and tertiary prevention |
| Regular physical exercise is anti-inflammatory |
| Healthy diets are anti-inflammatory (a traditional Mediterranean or Baltic diet may improve asthma control) |
| Probiotic bacteria in fermented food or other preparations may be anti-inflammatory |
| Respiratory/skin inflammation should be treated early and effectively; maintenance treatment titrated for long-term control |
| To stop symptom exacerbations proactively, instructions for guided self-management are provided for 10 allergic conditions (available in both paper and electronic formats) |
| Allergen-specific immunotherapy is recommended for more severe symptoms, e.g: |
| allergens as such (for foods) |
| sublingual tablets or drops (sublingual immunotherapy, or SLIT) (for pollens) |
| subcutaneous injections (for pollens, pets, mites, insect stings) |
| Smoking should be strictly avoided (the effectiveness of asthma and allergy drugs is reduced in smokers) |