Allergy Protection May Start Before Birth
Certain foods eaten during pregnancy seem to benefit offspring

(HealthDay News) -- There just might be a new twist to the old expression that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Researchers from the Netherlands and Scotland have found that women who ate apples throughout their pregnancy had children with a lower rate of asthma when they were 5.

And if you rush out to buy some Granny Smiths and Fujis, be sure to get some fish, too. The study also found that eating fish while pregnant was linked to children having a lower risk of eczema, an allergic skin condition.

"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," study author Saskia Willers, a doctoral student at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told HealthDay .

The researchers examined how eating different foods, rather than individual nutrients, during pregnancy impacted women's offspring. The study involved 1,212 children born to women who had filled out food questionnaires 32 weeks into their pregnancies. When the children were 5, the mothers completed another questionnaire about the children's respiratory symptoms and allergies. The children also were given lung function and allergy tests.

Children of women who ate more apples and fish during pregnancy were less likely to develop asthma or allergic disease, the study found. Specifically, children of women who ate fish once or more a week were 43 percent less likely to have had eczema at age 5 than children of mothers who never ate fish. Those whose mothers ate more than four apples a week during pregnancy were 37 percent less likely to have ever wheezed, 46 percent less likely to have had asthma symptoms, and 53 percent less likely to have had doctor-confirmed asthma than were children of mothers who ate no more than one apple a week.

"We were quite surprised to see a protective effect of apples because, to our knowledge, no other study had seen that before," Willers said. "For fish, there is an earlier study that found a protective effect of maternal fish intake during pregnancy on childhood asthma."

While researchers work on the apples and fish thing, plenty of other nutrition advice exists for pregnant women. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recommends that pregnant women:

• Get all essential vitamins and minerals every day. Women need a lot more iron when pregnant.
• Get 400 micrograms (or 0.4 milligrams) of folic acid daily. Getting enough folic acid (or folate) reduces the chances of some birth defects.
• Load up on fruits, vegetables and whole-grains (such as whole-wheat breads or crackers). Eat plenty of calcium-rich foods (such as non-fat or low-fat yogurt, milk and broccoli) that infants need for strong bones and teeth.

On the Web

To learn more about allergies, visit the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Saskia Willers, M.Sc., Utrecht University , the Netherlands ; Carlos Camargo, M.D., Dr.P.H, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology, Harvard Medical School , Boston ; National Women's Health Information Center (www.womenshealth.gov)
Author: Anne Thompson
Publication Date: May 31, 2008
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