Women taking too much sugar during pregnancy could be doubling the chance of their kid’s tendency to develop asthma.
-In a study that involved around 9000 pairs of mothers and their children, data from a world leading cohort study on birth was studied (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as ‘Children of the 90s’)
-This study enrolled mothers who were pregnant in the early 90’s for the study and has been ever since following up their offspring.
-The researchers examined any association between intake of free sugar by mothers during their pregnancy and development of asthma and allergy in kids when they reached 7 years of age.
-While the study showed only weak evidence for a link between free sugar intake in pregnancy and asthma overall, there were however strong positive associations with allergy and allergic asthma.
-When the researchers compared the 20% of mothers with the highest sugar intake versus the 20 percent of mothers with the lowest sugar intake, they observed an increased risk of 38% for allergy in the offspring (73% for allergy to two or more allergens) and 101% for allergic asthma.
-The researchers are of the view that the sugar link with asthma may be explained by high intake of fructose triggering an immune response leading to inflammation in developing lungs.
-Since this is an observational study, it does not prove that high sugar intake by mothers is the cause of allergies or asthma in children. A randomised controlled trial would be needed to definitively test causality.
Source: European Respiratory Journal