Mediterranean diet in pregnancy wards off childhood asthma: study

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Women who follow the famous Mediterranean diet while pregnant may also be shielding their baby from childhood asthma and allergy, a study published on Tuesday says.

Doctors recruited 507 women who attended an antenatal clinic on the Mediterranean island of Menorca in 1997, and quizzed them at length about their dietary habits.

More than six years later, they examined the women's children for asthma and wheezing and carried out a skin-prick test to see if the youngsters had a response to six common allergens.

The investigation found that the children's dietary intake at this age appeared to have little impact on whether they had these problems.

What made a difference, though, was what their mothers had eaten while pregnant.

One...