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Bepaalde vissoorten tijdens de zwangerschap
beschermen baby tegen astma.*
Het eten van vette vissoorten door astmatische vrouwen
tijdens de zwangerschap zoals zalm en forel, die rijk zijn aan omega-3 vetzuren,
reduceren de kans op astma voor de a.s. baby wel met meer dan 70%. Daarentegen
zwangere vrouwen die vissticks, die rijk zijn aan omega-6 vetzuren, eten krijgen
kinderen met een verhoogde kans op astma.
-- Pregnant women with asthma
who eat oily fish, such as salmon or trout, may help protect their children
against developing asthma, according to a study presented at the American
Thoracic Society International Conference in Orlando on May 25. The study also
found that children whose mother ate fish sticks during pregnancy may be at
increased risk of developing asthma
The study found that children
whose mothers ate fish sticks during pregnancy were twice as likely to develop
asthma, whether or not their mothers had asthma themselves. “Fish sticks are
deep-fried, and they contain omega-6 fatty acids, which encourage inflammation
of the airways,” said study co-author Frank Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., Professor
of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles. “Oily fish contain omega-3 fatty acids,
which appear to be anti-inflammatory, and lead to the reduced potential for
developing asthma and allergies.”
The study found that children
whose mothers with asthma ate oily fish during pregnancy were 71% less likely to
develop asthma on average; the more oily fish a woman ate, the less likely her
child was to develop asthma.
Children with non-asthmatic
mothers did not benefit from having their mother eat oily fish during pregnancy
“A family history of asthma
is a very strong risk factor for a child developing asthma,” Dr. Gilliland
said. “It appears that oily fish interacts with the genes involved in the
predisposition to develop asthma, and somehow reduces the risk.”
The children in the study were
selected from the Children’s Health Study, a population-based study of
school-aged children in 12 Southern California communities. One group of
children had physician-diagnosed asthma by age 5, and the other group was
asthma-free when the study started. The children’s mothers were interviewed
about their diet and other environmental exposures during pregnancy.
“We are learning more and more about the importance of fetal exposure to different substances, and how this affects the programming of the baby’s immune system,” Dr. Gilliland said. (Mei 2004)