The rise of asthma, eczema, and allergies has increased as the United States has continued to industrialize. Changes in food production (processing, storing, and transportation) have had also changed its nutritional content. In 2008, it had been estimated that 7.7% of the population (22.2 million people) had been diagnosed with asthma, and that 6.5 million of those individuals were children (Devereux, 2008). Though the exact cause of asthma is not known, and despite the impact of environmental factors, asthma can also been hereditary.
From other research we know that there is a relationship between maternal diet and fetal development. For example, the benefits of taking folic acid during pregnancy, and its role in preventing neural tube and spinal cord defects. In this study researchers wanted to focus on increasing the intake of lipids and antioxidants during pregnancy, to increase fetal immunity and airway development. A limitation of maternal diet studies is that they ask the mother to recall her diet, which can alter the accuracy of results.
The main lipid researched was fish oil and its role in decreasing childhood eczema and other allergies (cat allergens). The results were statistically significant between mothers taking fish oil versus olive oil, but once compared to mothers who took neither the results were not significant. The antioxidant researched was vitamin E and its relationship to T cells (specifically the Th2 phenotype). The results of women taking vitamin E was significant, but more studies will need to be done to verify it was due to that increase in vitamin E. The ethical issues encountered during this study were that, researchers were increasing the doses of different vitamins and supplements without knowing how they could endanger the mother's and possibly putting their pregnancies at risk.
My parents found out I had asthma when I was just two years old, so I am well versed in the struggle of managing it. Growing up doctors recommended that I play sports and blow up balloons for 30 minutes every other day (not as fun as it sounds), in the hopes of strengthening my lungs over time. Though this did seem to work, there have been a couple trips to the ER when I was experiencing a severe asthma attack, which as well all know a trip to the ER can be expensive. With more research, altering maternal diet could prove to be a low-cost measure to preventing childhood asthma, eczema and other allergies.
Reference: Devereux, G. (2008). Role of Maternal Nutrition during Pregnancy in the Development of Childhood Asthma and Allergies. Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research, 6(4), 189–199. Retrieved from http://dml.regis.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=37810954&site=ehost-live&scope=site
As a kid you don't know what you are and aren't allergic to because you constantly want to touch everything and put everything in your mouth. However, I do know that what the mother eats and ingests during her pregnancy can result in food restrictions the baby might have. I think it's a great study and that they did it looking at the mother specifically because there is a correlation between mom and baby nutrients. However, it would be interesting to see how the poverty line ties into all this. Due to the fact that many women that fall in poverty could be consuming a lot of canned cheap food and how that might also have an effect on babies to prevent other such problems that may arise due to the consumption of the mothers diet.
ReplyDelete