Skin barrier dysfunction is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD) and food allergy (FA). This has led to the hypothesis that moisturizer use in early infancy could prevent the development of FA. Use of moisturizers in birth cohorts has resulted in variable effects on AD prevention, ranging from significant prevention to lack of efficacy. In the March 2021 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, investigators reported an association of frequent moisturizer use in early infancy with the development of FA.

We thank Leung et al,1 Ryczaj et al,2 and Ruge et al3 for their interest in our article “Association of frequent moisturizer use in early infancy with the development of food allergy,” which appeared in the March 2021 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In reference to Leung et al,1 among infants with eczema in the Enquiring about Tolerance (EAT) study at 3 months of age, there was indeed an association between the frequency with which these infants were moisturized and the severity of their eczema, as we reported in our article.