Friday, September 01, 2006

Low vitamin E intake during pregnancy can lead to childhood asthma

Children whose mothers had a low intake of vitamin E during pregnancy are more likely to develop wheezing and asthma by age five.

This research appears in the first issue for September 2006 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.

Graham Devereux, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, and seven associates assessed maternal nutrient and respiratory status in 1,253 mothers and children during a five-year period.

According to the authors, children born to mothers from the lowest quintile of vitamin E intake were over five times more likely to manifest early persistent asthma than children whose mothers were in the highest quintile.


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