Pregnancy nutrition may be a source of allergic diseases in infants

Pregnancy nutrition may be a source of allergic diseases in infants

(Pediatrics-March 13, 2003)

"The prevalence of allergic diseases is high in Japan, even in infants. Their risk for developing allergies is influenced by the antigens in the mother's diet during pregnancy. We hypothesized that, apart from the antigens, hypersensitivity induced through high energy and nutrient intake by mothers during pregnancy may be a factor for allergic diseases in their babies," researchers in Japan reported.

"In this study, we tried to confirm our hypothesis. Allergy histories of parents and their infants, body characteristics and food and nutrient intake were measured by a questionnaire and a food frequency questionnaire, respectively. A total of 2,642 responses were obtained (return rate, 94.7%)," said Y. Ushiyama and colleagues, University of Tokushima, School of Medicine.

"The major allergic diseases in the infants were atopic dermatitis (6.0%), food allergy (3.7%) and bronchial asthma or asthmatic bronchitis (3.21%). About 60% of the infants with allergies had a family history of allergies," according to their report.

"Family history of allergy, age of infant, order of birth, head and chest circumferences of infants, BMI of mothers before pregnancy and delivery and intake of lipids (fat and vegetable oil) and vegetables by mothers related positively, and the intake of protein, carbohydrates and milk and its products correlated negatively with allergic diseases in the infants (p<0.05)."

"The results, together with previous reports, suggest that a high intake of energy and lipids (fat and vegetable oil) during pregnancy may accelerate allergic diseases in infants," researchers concluded.

Ushiyama and colleagues published their study in Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology (Nutrition during pregnancy may be associated with allergic diseases in infants. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol, 2002;48(5):345-351).

The contact person for this report is Y. Ushiyama, University of Tokushima, School of Medicine, Department of Nutrition, Tokushima 7708503, Japan.

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The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of Allergy Medicine, Diet and Nutrition, Obstetrics and Pediatrics. This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports.