Mother's Diet May Prevent Infant Allergies
Why do some kids get allergies and some don't? A new study published in Allergy 2010 may give us some answers. The women who ate more green and yellow vegetables, citrus and high beta carotene while they were pregnant had fewer babies with eczema. They also found that foods high in vitamin E lessened the risk of having a wheezy baby.
The researchers from Fukuoka University in Japan studied 763 pregnant women and evaluated their fruit and vegetable intake during pregnancy. The women averaged 30 years of age and were 17 weeks pregnant at enrollment. (average gestational time is 40 weeks). After controlling for exposure to smoke, number of older siblings and breastfeeding history, they found that women who ate more vegies, citrus fruits or beta carotene were less apt to have an infant with eczema. (54 vs 32 infants).
Like other studies from the U.S. and U.K., these researchers showed higher intake of Vitamin E reduced the likelihood of having a wheezy infant.
These are pretty easy steps for pregnant women to take and may make a difference in the health of the baby.