Are
you pregnant? Fill up on apples and fish
By Oluwatoyin Oluwastoyin
Friday,
June 8, 2007
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Apples could protect your child from respiratory infection
•Pix: Sun
News Publishing |
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Interesting that for a long time we have discussed nutrition
only in relation to our health, weight control or other self-centred desires.
However, more research is revealing by the day that if one does not mind
eating well because one is unbothered with either weight loss or being healthy,
one needs to have a second thought. Why? What you eat may affect your offspring.
No one needs carry the burden of knowing that the ailments in a child’s
life would have been avoided had one eaten right.
A group of scientists
bring to light one of such discoveries late last month. They discovered that filling
up on apples and fish during pregnancy might protect your child from developing
asthma and allergic diseases.
According to the report of Juhie Bhatia of
HealthDay, these researchers from the Netherlands and Scotland found out that
eating apples throughout pregnancy may protect against wheezing and asthma in
five-year-old children, while fish consumption may lower the risk of eczema, an
allergic skin condition. The findings were presented on Children’s day at
the American Thoracic Society's International Conference in San Francisco.
"To
our knowledge, we are one of the first studies evaluating the influence of maternal
consumption of so many different foods and food groups during pregnancy on childhood
asthma and allergic disease," said study author Saskia Willers, a doctoral
student at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Previous studies among
the same age group of children conducted at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland,
found that maternal intake of vitamins E and D, and zinc during pregnancy may
lower the risk of asthma, wheezing and eczema. However, for this study, the researchers
looked at how eating different foods, rather than individual nutrients, during
pregnancy impacted these children.
The researchers studied 1,212 children
born to women who had filled out food questionnaires 32 weeks into their pregnancy.
When the children were five, the mothers filled out another questionnaire about
their child's respiratory symptoms and allergies, as well as a survey about their
child's food consumption. The children were also given lung function and allergy
tests.
The study found that children of women who ate more apples and fish
during their pregnancy were less likely to develop asthma or allergic disease.
Specifically,
children of women who ate fish once or more a week were 43 per cent less likely
to have had eczema at age five than children of mothers who never ate fish.
Those
whose mothers ate more than four apples a week during pregnancy were 37 per cent
less likely to have ever wheezed, 46 per cent less likely to have had asthma symptoms,
and 53 per cent less likely to have had doctor-confirmed asthma compared to children
of mothers who ate one or no apples a week.
"We were quite surprised
to see a protective effect of apples, because, to our knowledge, no other study
had seen that before," said Willers. "For fish, there is an earlier
study that found a protective effect of maternal fish intake during pregnancy
on childhood asthma."
No protective effect was found against asthma
or allergic diseases from many other foods, including vegetables, fruit juice,
citrus or kiwi fruit, whole grain products, fat from dairy products or margarine
or other low-fat spreads.
The study speculated that apples may be beneficial
because they contain flavonoids, which have been associated with a reduced risk
of asthma in other studies, while fish's protective effect may be due to their
omega-3 fatty acids.
"The authors' explanations are plausible,"
said Dr. Carlos Camargo, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at
Harvard Medical School. "It's curious, however, why only apples would be
protective, since flavonoids are present in other foods. This will require further
work. The first step, however, is to see if other investigators find the same
associations in other birth cohorts."
Dr. Augusto A. Litonjua, an
assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said this study adds to the growing
literature that prenatal factors, specifically maternal diet during pregnancy,
can affect the development of wheezing illnesses, asthma and allergies in young
children.
It is too early, though, to recommend how much fish and apples
pregnant women should eat, Willers said. Rather, it is important for them to follow
a healthy, balanced diet.
Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition
at Washington University in St. Louis, added that pregnant women should be careful
about not eating too much fish because of the potential mercury and other pollutants
in fish.
"The study supports the health benefits of increased fruits,
vegetables and fish, but pregnant women need to exercise caution with king mackerel,
tilefish, shark and swordfish, and should limit albacore tuna to 6 ounces per
week," she said.
Litonjua added that in addition to a healthy diet,
pregnant women should also take prenatal vitamins with folic acid and abstain
from smoking and drinking to maximize the health of their growing fetus, and subsequently
their young child.
Eat well for your children.
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