Don't think this has come up before. For URl see end.  Richard Friedel
Eating urgers could double asthma risk
by JOHN HIGGINSON, Metro

Eating hamburgers more than once a week nearly doubles the risk of
asthma attacks and wheezing in children, research suggests.

Other takeaway food and fizzy drinks also increase the chances of
getting asthma, doctors found.

Youngsters who ate at least one burger a week were 75 per cent more
likely to have asthma and almost 100 per cent more likely to suffer
wheezing problems, a study of 1,300 school pupils in New Zealand
revealed.

The findings, published in the journal Allergy, add to previous
evidence that the explosion in junk food diets might have contributed
to the dramatic increase in asthma over the past 30 years.

One in three British teenagers now suffers from asthmatic symptoms,
such as wheezing, breathlessness and tightchestedness.

Some experts argue that a large part of the increase is because GPs are
getting better at spotting the disease.

However, other experts, including Dr Kristin Wickens, who led the New
Zealand study of 10 to 12-year-olds, say diets containing junk foods
which are high in salt could be contributing to the problem.

She said: "The high salt content in hamburgers may increase the risk of
wheezy illness."

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