Asthma

Mediterranean Diet Shown To Protect Unborn Against Asthma

Researchers have shown that pregnant women can dramatically impact upon the health of their unborn children by determining what sorts of foods they eat while expecting. Expectant mothers who eat a diet rich in high quality and traditional Mediterranean diet were shown to provide their unborn children with a natural remedy for asthma and allergies.

The Mediterranean Diet study was conducted on pregnant women who lived in Menorca, a Spanish island. Researchers from the University of Crete monitored what sort of Mediterranean foods the women ate, and scored them correspondingly.

The mothers who fell into to the high quality Mediterranean diet group were eating at least 3 serves of fish per week, 8 serves of vegetables weekly, 1 serve of legumes, as well as olive oil, whole grains, nuts and seeds. These were the women who demonstrated in the Mediterranean Diet research to have provided their children with significant protection against childhood asthma and allergies. On the flip side, the women who ate more than 3-4 serves of red meat each week actually increased the risks of their children having asthma and allergies.

Secondly, what did these women eat? The pregnant women whose children benefited the most from the reduced risks of childhood asthma and allergies were those who ate quality Mediterranean cuisine, along with 3 serves of fish weekly, 1 serve of legumes, and 8 serves of vegetables each week.

Conversely those pregnant women who ate red meat more than 3-4 times per week actually had children with a higher risk for both the allergies and the asthma.

Researchers surmised that the protective health benefits of Mediterranean Diet for the unborn children came from 2 sources, antioxidants and omegas. Both these 2 ingredients are found in high amounts in Mediterranean cuisine. Antioxidants are beneficial in providing tissue health and omegas provide anti-inflammatory properties, especially in the airways (important in asthma).

Please note that drinking alcohol while pregnant is not recommended by medical authorities. No mention was made in the study of alcoholic intake for the pregnant women. A responsible conclusion would be that they were not consuming alcohol.

Conclusion – Following a quality Mediterranean Diet in pregnancy has been shown to significantly reduce the incidences of both allergies and asthma in the children of these mothers. Maximum protectives benefits were found in the expectant women who close followed a traditional Mediterranean diet and ate at least 3 serves of fish weekly, 8 serves of vegetables weekly, and at least 1 serve of legumes.

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