Expectant moms who eat nuts boost child asthma risk Posted on July 21st
products like peanut butter daily raise the risk their children
will develop asthma by 50 percent, Dutch researchers said on
Tuesday.
The study also showed that moderate amounts did not seem to
have an effect, meaning it is too soon to say whether pregnant
women should give up nuts because they contain many important
nutrients and healthy fats a developing fetus needs, they said.
“We were the first to find these strong effects on asthma
symptoms,” said Saskia Willers, an epidemiologist at Utrecht
University, who led the study linking nuts with asthma.
“But until we are certain we don’t want to restrict them
from the diet. So it is important that other studies replicate
the findings,” she said.
Asthma is an inflammatory disease causing wheezing,
coughing and labored breathing that can be life threatening. In
some countries as many as 30 percent of children develop the
condition, according to the World Health Organization.
Scientists do not exactly know why some children develop
asthma, although some believe that allergies can trigger the
disease that causes a narrowing of the bronchial tubes.
Nuts and seafood are known to contain allergens that cause
food allergies but the Dutch team only found a link between
peanuts and asthma, Willers said.
In their study, more than 4,000 pregnant women completed a
dietary questionnaire that asked whether they consumed
vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, eggs, milk, milk products, nuts
and nut products rarely, regularly or daily.
The researchers, who published their findings in the
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,
then assessed the children’s diets and looked to see who had
developed asthma over an eight-year period.
Children whose mothers ate as little as one peanut butter
sandwich a day had a far higher risk of asthma, Willers said in
a telephone interview.
“If you eat moderately, it is probably not a problem,” she
said. “It is only if you eat nuts or nut products on a daily
basis.”
The study did not find a mechanism but Willers said peanut
allergens may be crossing the placenta and sensitizing a fetus,
making a child more prone to the disease.
The researchers also found a small benefit from eating
fruit daily, and reported that the link between asthma and nuts
remained after factoring for the child’s diet, Willers added.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)