Women Pregnancy

Eating apples while pregnant may give a new meaning to an apple a day keeping the doctor away, according to a study published in Thorax online on Friday. Mothers who eat apples during pregnancy may protect their children from developing asthma later in life. This new research from the Netherlands and Scotland tracked dietary intake by nearly 2,000 pregnant women and examined the effects of the maternal diet on airway development in more than 1,200 of their children five years later.
The children of mothers who ate apples had a significantly reduced risk for the development of asthma and childhood wheezing, according to researchers at Aberdeen University.

This study focuses on medical evaluations for asthma and related symptoms (i.e., wheezing) when the children were five years old. As a result of the evaluations cited in this research, other than apples, there were no consistent associations found between prenatal consumption of a range of healthful foods and asthma in the 1253 children who were evaluated. These same researchers previously reported positive associations between maternal consumption of vitamins A, E, D and zinc with reduced risk of asthma, wheeze and eczema in children.

The only other positive association found between prenatal food intake and risk reduction in the children was with fish, for which the researchers found that children of mothers who ate fish had a lowered incidence of doctor-confirmed eczema. “The present study suggests beneficial associations between maternal apple intake during pregnancy and wheeze and asthma at age five,” according to the researchers.
They added that their findings “suggest an apple specific effect, possibly because of its phytochemical content, such as flavonoids.”

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways, which causes attacks of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing. There is no cure for asthma, though symptoms sometimes decrease over time. With proper self-management and medical treatment, most people with asthma can live normal lives.

Source-IANS
SRM/B