"Eating Apples, Fish During Pregnancy Protects Kids From Allergies,
Asthma", Atlanta Journal - Constitution, May 21, 2007,
Link: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/allr/604776.html

Filling up on apples and fish during pregnancy might protect your
child from developing asthma and allergic diseases, a new study shows.

Researchers from the Netherlands and Scotland have found that eating
apples throughout pregnancy may protect against wheezing and asthma in
5-year-old children, while fish consumption may lower the risk of
eczema, an allergic skin condition. The findings were to be presented
Sunday at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference in
San Francisco.

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

Previous studies in the same group of children, part of the SEATON
birth cohort conducted at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland,
found that maternal intake of vitamins E and D, and zinc during
pregnancy may also lower the risk of asthma, wheezing and eczema. For
this study, the researchers looked at how eating different foods,
rather than individual nutrients, during pregnancy impacted these
children.

The researchers studied 1,212 children born to women who had filled
out food questionnaires 32 weeks into their pregnancy. When the
children were 5, the mothers filled out another questionnaire about
their child's respiratory symptoms and allergies, as well as a survey
about their child's food consumption. The children were also given
lung function and allergy tests.

The study found that children of women who ate more apples and fish
during their pregnancy were less likely to develop asthma or allergic
disease. 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 compared to children of mothers who ate one or no apples a
week.

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

No protective effect was found against asthma or allergic diseases
from many other foods, including vegetables, fruit juice, citrus or
kiwi fruit, whole grain products, fat from dairy products or margarine
or other low-fat spreads.

The study speculated that apples may be beneficial because they
contain flavonoids, which have been associated with a reduced risk of
asthma in other studies, while fish's protective effect may be due to
their omega-3 fatty acids.

"The authors' explanations are plausible," said Dr. Carlos Camargo, an
associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical
School. "It's curious, however, why only apples would be protective,
since flavonoids are present in other foods. This will require further
work. The first step, however, is to see if other investigators find
the same associations in other birth cohorts."

Dr. Augusto A. Litonjua, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical
School, said this study adds to the growing literature that prenatal
factors, specifically maternal diet during pregnancy, can affect the
development of wheezing illnesses, asthma and allergies in young
children.

It's too early, though, to recommend how much fish and apples pregnant
women should eat, Willers said. Rather, it's important for them to
follow a healthy, balanced diet.

Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington
University in St. Louis, added that pregnant women should be careful
about not eating too much fish because of the potential mercury and
other pollutants in fish.

"The study supports the health benefits of increased fruits,
vegetables and fish, but pregnant women need to exercise caution with
king mackerel, tilefish, shark and swordfish, and should limit
albacore tuna to 6 ounces per week," she said.

Litonjua added that in addition to a healthy diet, pregnant women
should also take prenatal vitamins with folic acid and abstain from
smoking and drinking to maximize the health of their growing fetus,
and subsequently their young child.