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Kids' Asthma Linked to Maternal Nutrition
Researchers find Vitamin D could make a difference
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
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SATURDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- The link between maternal health and childhood asthma is becoming clearer.
Researchers presenting new studies at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Miami Beach have recorded associations between maternal nutrition and stress with asthma in children.
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One study found that expectant mothers who take higher amounts of vitamin D may decrease their child's risk for asthma.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in areas where asthma is also widespread, raising the suspicion that the two are linked, said Dr. Carlos Camargo, senior author of the study and an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Camargo and his team followed 1,300 mother-child pairs for more than three years.
By the time the children were 2 years old, there was already a clear association between higher vitamin D intake when the mother was pregnant and lower risk of wheezing and asthma in the children, he said at a news conference Saturday in Miami Beach.
And, he added, the three-year link was even stronger.
The results of previous studies suggest that vitamin D may have an effect on a fetus's developing immune system.
"Doctors should understand that vitamin D insufficiency is real," Camargo said. "It's important to get it from diet or supplements and the way to do that is through fortified milk, fish and supplements. And that is totally independent of our findings."
A Canadian study found that pregnant women who have asthma are more likely to have premature babies and to have babies with low birth weight.
This survey of 13,980 children born in Manitoba found that mothers who suffered from asthma were, on average, 2.77 times more likely to have a baby born at less than 28 weeks' gestation and 3.04 times more likely to have a baby born at less than 32 weeks' gestation than a non-asthmatic mother.
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Copyright © 2006 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 3/4/2006
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SOURCES: March 4, 2006, news conference with Carlos Camargo, M.D., Dr.PH, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Joel Liem, M.D., research fellow in pediatric allergy and clinical immunology, University of Manitoba, Canada; Anita Kozyrskyj, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacy and medicine, University of Manitoba; Bruce Bender, Ph.D., head of pediatric behavioral health, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver
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