Food consumption and the risk of childhood allergy
Asia Pacific Allergy
; (4): e35-2018.
Article
in En
| WPRIM
| ID: wpr-750161
Responsible library:
WPRO
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The prevalence of allergic conditions is increasing in most countries. One possible explanation may be childhood nutrition.OBJECTIVE:
The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between consumption of pre-specified types of food in school-aged children and presence of respiratory and allergic symptoms.METHODS:
A total of 191 students aged 9–11 years were recruited from 5 schools to geographically cover all of Malta. Data was collected between October 2011 and February 2012. This was part of a bigger study which included clinical and environmental tests besides standardized health questionnaires. For the purposes of this part of the study only the health questionnaires were used. These standardized health questionnaires based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) were used to identify the presence of respiratory and allergic symptoms and to identify the types of foods and the frequency of consumption of various types of foods.RESULTS:
We found that milk, meat, butter, olive oil, and yoghurt consumption had a negative association with allergic symptoms in children, whilst fish consumption had a detrimental effect. These relationships remained significant after correction for paternal level of education.CONCLUSION:
The study highlights the fact that nutrition in early childhood may have a significant effect on the risk of allergic conditions. Our results, taken together with data in the literature, suggest that different types of fish might have had different effects. This is probably related to their different fatty acid constitution thus warranting further studies.Key words
Full text:
1
Index:
WPRIM
Main subject:
Asthma
/
Yogurt
/
Butter
/
Prevalence
/
Constitution and Bylaws
/
Milk
/
Education
/
Olive Oil
/
Hypersensitivity
/
Malta
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Asia Pacific Allergy
Year:
2018
Type:
Article