"'Fruity Vegetables' And Fish Reduce Asthma And Allergies", Science
Daily, September 12, 2007,
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070911092113.htm

Giving children a diet rich in fish and "fruity vegetables" can reduce
asthma and allergies, according to a seven-year study of 460 Spanish
children.

The findings also reinforce the researchers' earlier findings that a
fish-rich diet in pregnancy can help to protect children from asthma
and allergies.

"We believe that this is the first study that has assessed the impact
of a child's diet on asthma and allergies and also taken into account
the food their mother ate during pregnancy" says lead author Dr Leda
Chatzi from the Department of Social Medicine at the University of
Crete, Greece.

"Because we studied the children from pregnancy to childhood, we were
able to include a wide range of elements in our analysis, including
maternal diet during pregnancy, breastfeeding, smoking, the mother's
health history, parental education and social class."

Researchers followed the progress of the children, on the Spanish
island of Menorca, at regular intervals from before they were born
until they were six-and-a-half.

They discovered that children who consumed more than 40 grams of
"fruity vegetables" a day -- namely tomatoes, eggplants (aubergines),
cucumber, green beans and zucchini (courgettes) - were much less
likely to suffer from childhood asthma.

And children who consumed more than 60 grams of fish a day also
suffered less childhood allergies, echoing the protective effects they
experienced when their mothers ate fish during pregnancy.

However the researchers noted that the dietary effects were quite
specific and that other fruits and vegetables examined did not provide
the same protective effect. Nor did other food groups included in the
study, such as dairy products, meat, poultry and bread.

The mothers of 232 boys and 228 girls, who had been recruited during
antenatal classes, completed detailed questionnaires on their
children's health, weight, diet and any breathing problems every year
until their child was six-and-a-half.

90 per cent of the children also underwent allergy testing -- skin
prick tests were used to check their response to the six most common
allergens, including grass pollen and cats.

The researchers found that just under nine per cent of the children
suffered from some degree of wheezing, including six per cent with an
allergy-related wheeze. And 17 per cent reacted to at least one of the
allergens in the skin prick test.

"After adjusting the results for a wide range of variables, we
concluded that the link between symptom-free children and a diet rich
in fruity vegetables and fish was statistically significant" says Dr
Chatzi.

"The biological mechanisms that underlie the protective affect of
these foods is not fully understood, but we believe that the fruity
vegetables and fish reduce the inflammation associated with asthma and
allergies.

"The interesting thing about this study is that it followed a large
number of children from the womb to the age of six-and-a-half and
incorporated a wide range of dietary, social and health factors" says
the Journal's Editor, Professor John Warner, Head of the Department of
Paediatrics at Imperial College London.

"It provides parents with specific advice about the health promotion
benefits of including fish and fruity vegetables as part of a balanced
diet for both their children and the rest of the family."

Reference: "Diet, wheeze and atophy in school children in Menorca,
Spain." Chatzi et al. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. 18, pages 480
to 485. (September 2007).