Maternal food consumption during pregnancy and the longitudinal development of childhood asthma.

Full Abstract

RATIONALE:
Maternal diet during pregnancy has the potential to affect airway development and to promote T-helper-2-cell responses during fetal life. This might increase the risk of developing childhood asthma or allergy.

OBJECTIVES:
We investigated the influence of maternal food consumption during pregnancy on childhood asthma outcomes from 1 to 8 years of age.

METHODS:
A birth cohort study consisting of a baseline of 4,146 pregnant women (1,327 atopic and 2,819 nonatopic). These women were asked about their frequency of consumption of fruit, vegetables, fish, egg, milk, milk products, nuts, and nut products during the last month. Their children were followed until 8 years of age. Longitudinal analyses were conducted to assess associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and childhood asthma outcomes over 8 years.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:
Complete data were obtained for 2,832 children. There were no associations between maternal vegetable, fish, egg, milk or milk products, and nut consumption and longitudinal childhood outcomes. Daily consumption of nut products increased the risk of childhood wheeze (odds ratio [OR] daily versus rare consumption, 1.42; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.06-1.89), dyspnea (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.16-2.15), steroid use (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.06-2.46), and asthma symptoms (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.08-1.99).

CONCLUSIONS:
Results of this study indicate an increased risk of daily versus rare consumption of nut products during pregnancy on childhood asthma outcomes. These findings need to be replicated by other studies before dietary advice can be given to pregnant women.

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Author information

Author/s: Willers, Saskia M (SM); Wijga, Alet H (AH); Brunekreef, Bert (B); Kerkhof, Marjan (M); Gerritsen, Jorrit (J); Hoekstra, Maarten O (MO); de Jongste, Johan C (JC); Smit, Henriette A (HA);

Affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands. s.m.willers(-atsign-)uu.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine (Am J Respir Crit Care Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 178 (issue 2) : pp 124-31

Dates: Created 2008/07/02; Completed 2008/08/13;

PMID: 18403722, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

CommentIn: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Jul 15;178(2):113-4. (PMID: 18594119)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Asthma - epidemiology; immunology; prevention & control
Child
Child, Preschool
Diet
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Hypersensitivity, Immediate - epidemiology; immunology
Infant

Infant, Newborn
Logistic Models
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Netherlands - epidemiology
Nuts - adverse effects
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - immunology; prevention & control
Prenatal Nutrition Physiology - immunology
Prevalence

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