Whole Grains and Fish May Decrease Asthma Risk in Children

by | Nov 7, 2008 | 2006, Asthma, Fish Oil Supplements, Infant and Children's Health, Whole Grains

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Asthma was 5 times more common in a study of children with the lowest intakes of fish and whole grains.

Asthma affects more than 20 million Americans (including 6.1 million children) (1) and is recognized as “a major public health problem of increasing concern in the United States”. It is the third-ranking cause of hospitalization among those younger than 15 years of age, incurs a cost of $3.2 billion and accounts for 14 million lost school days each year in children (2).

It has been suggested that the skyrocketing rates of asthma in western societies may be related to two nutritional changes:

  • Decreased intakes of fruits and vegetables (3)
  • Replacing saturated fat in the food supply with omega-6 fatty acids (vegetable, soybean, corn oil) (4).

Both of these changes started in the 1950’s and are thought to lead to increased airway inflammation.

A recent study (5) has found that increasing intakes of fish and whole grains may help with asthma, especially in children.

Previous research has shown that increased antioxidant intake helps asthma symptoms (6). Building on these findings, researchers studied the intake of fruits, vegetables, dairy and whole grain products, and fish in relation to asthma in 598 Dutch children aged 8-13 years, using a food frequency questionnaire (7). The researchers found that asthma was five times more common (19.4% vs. 4.2%) in children with the lowest intakes of both fish (less than 6 grams per day) and whole grains (less than 15 grams per day) compared to children with the highest intakes of both fish (greater than 15 grams per day) and whole grains (greater than 118 grams per day).

For the researchers, “our findings suggest that a high intake of whole grain products and fish may have a protective effect against asthma in children.”

Source: Tabak, Cora, Alet H. Wijga, Gea de Meer, Nicole AH Janssen, Bert Brunekreef, and Henriette A. Smit. “Diet and asthma in Dutch school children (ISAAC-2).” Thorax 61, no. 12 (2006): 1048-1053.

© 2006 Thorax

Posted November 7, 2008. 

References:

  1. “Asthma” posted on the American Lung Association Website.
  2. CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health Website. “Asthma’s Impact on Children and Adolescents”
  3. Seaton A, Godden DJ, Brown K. Increase in asthma: a more toxic environment or a more susceptible population?Thorax 1994;49:171-4.
  4. Simopoulos AP. Essential fatty acids in health and chronic disease. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;70 (Suppl):P560-9.
  5. Tabak C.  Diet and asthma in Dutch school children (ISAAC-2).  Thorax 2006; 61(12): 1048-1053.
  6. Misso NL.  Plasma concentrations of dietary and nondietary antioxidants are low in severe asthma.  Eur Respir J. 2005 Aug;26(2):257-64.
  7. Goddijn HE, et al. The Dutch EPIC food frequency questionnaire I. Description of the questionnaire, and relative validity and reproducibility for food groups. Int J Epidemiol 1997;26 (Suppl):P37-48.