Published ahead of print on April 10, 2008, doi:10.1164/rccm.200710-1544OC Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 178, Number 2, July 2008, 124-131 A more recent version of this article appeared on July 15, 2008
Submitted on October 19, 2007 Maternal Food Consumption During Pregnancy and the Longitudinal Development of Childhood AsthmaSaskia M Willers1*,1 Division Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2 Centre for Prevention and Health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands, 3 Division Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 4 Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 5 Beatrix Children's Hospital, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 6 Centre for Pediatric Allergology, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 7 Department of Pediatrics/Respiratory Medicine, Erasmus Medical Centre/Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 8 Centre for Prevention and Health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands; Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: s.m.willers{at}uu.nl.
Rationale Maternal diet during pregnancy has the potential to affect airway development, and to promote Th2-cell responses during fetal life. This might increase the risk of developing childhood asthma or allergy. Objectives We investigated the influence of maternal food consumption during pregnancy on childhood asthma outcomes from 1 to 8 years of age. Methods A birth cohort study consisting of a baseline of 4146 participants (1327 atopic; 2819 non-atopic mothers). These pregnant women were asked about their frequency of consumption of fruit, vegetables, fish, egg, milk, milk products, nuts and nut products during the last month. Their children were followed up until the age of 8. Longitudinal analyses were conducted to assess associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and childhood asthma outcomes over these 8 years. Main results Complete data were obtained for 2832 children. There were no associations between maternal vegetable, fish, egg, milk or milk products and nut consumption and longitudinal childhood outcomes. Daily consumption of nut products increased the risk of childhood wheeze (odds ratio [OR] daily vs rare consumption, 1.42; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.06 to 1.89), dyspnea (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.16 to 2.15) steroid use (OR, 1.62; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.46) and 'asthma symptoms' (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.99). Conclusion Results of this study indicate an increased risk of daily versus rare consumption of nut products during pregnancy on childhood asthma outcomes. These findings need to be replicated by other studies before dietary advice can be given to pregnant women. Key words: asthma, children, diet, pregnancy
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