High sugar intake during pregnancy may increase risk of child asthma, study warns
Consumption of excess sugar during pregnancy may make your off spring susceptible to childhood asthma and allergies, UK scientists have warned expectant mothers.
The
study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, analysed data from 8,956
children aged 7 to 9, with all the mothers giving details of their diet during
pregnancy. The mothers with the highest sugar intake were compared with those
who consumed the least.
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The
result showed the former had a 37% higher risk of allergies in the offspring.
Although no links were found between high sugar levels and asthma, mothers who
had a high level of sugar intake were found to have more than double the risk
of having a child with allergic asthma.
The
researchers added that the link with asthma and allergies could not be
explained by how much sugar the young children had. According to the
researchers, preliminary results suggest that the presence of “free sugars” in
many processed foods and fizzy drinks may trigger an inflammatory response in a
child’s developing lungs.
“Perhaps
the mothers who are more sugar had diets that were different in other ways from
the mothers who ate less sugar, or perhaps they had different smoking habits,
for instance”, Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics, at The
Open University, said a statement.
“Perhaps it was these other aspects of diet,
or smoking, that caused their children’s allergies and asthma, and not the
sugar.
Written by: Ukpono Etuk
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