Compelling new research from a study, recently published in Thorax online, has concluded that children of mothers who eat apples during pregnancy have a significantly reduced risk of developing asthma and wheezing later in life.

It was found that children whose mothers ate more than four apples a week were around 50% less likely to develop asthma by the age of five than infants born to women who ate just one or no apples each week.
No protective effect on asthma risk was found to be associated with eating any of a range of other healthy foods, so the findings point to an apple-specific effect, possibly due to its phytochemical content, including flavonoids.

The same team also found a link between eating oily fish
during pregnancy and a reduced risk of hay fever in children.

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First Published in July 2007

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