MedWire News: A high intake of dairy foods, calcium, and vitamin D in pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk for wheeze in young children, research suggests.
Writing in the European Respiratory Journal, Yoshihiro Miyake (Fukuoka University, Japan) and team explain that a number of previous studies have suggested that maternal intake of dairy foods, calcium, and vitamin D in pregnancy are associated with risk for childhood wheeze, while others have found no such association.
To investigate further, the researchers studied data on 763 Japanese mother-child pairs who participated in the Osaka Maternal and Child Health Study.
Maternal intake of dairy foods, calcium, and vitamin D during pregnancy was assessed using a dietary history questionnaire, and all the children were assessed for wheeze and eczema between the ages of 16 and 24 months using criteria from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood.
In total, 22.1% and 18.6% of children developed wheeze and eczema, respectively, during the study period.
After accounting for a parental history of asthma and allergies, parental smoking, birth weight, and other factors, the researchers found that children born to mothers with a high intake of dairy foods were less likely to suffer from wheeze, but not eczema, than those with a low intake.
Specifically, children born to women in the highest quartile for intake of total dairy products during pregnancy were 55% less likely to experience wheeze than those born to mothers in the lowest quartile for intake. Similarly, the odds ratios (ORs) for infant wheeze associated with the highest verses the lowest quartile of maternal intake of milk, cheese, and calcium during pregnancy were 0.50, 0.51, and 0.57, respectively.
The researchers also found that when maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy was divided into two categories using a cut-off point at the 25th percentile, children born to mothers who had a vitamin D intake of at least 4.309 µg/day were significantly less likely to suffer from wheeze and eczema than those with a lower intake, at ORs of 0.64 and 0.63, respectively.
Miyake and team conclude: “Findings from this prospective study suggest that higher maternal consumption of total dairy products, milk, cheese, calcium, and vitamin D during pregnancy may reduce the risk of infantile wheeze. Also, higher maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy may be protective against eczema in the children.”
However, they add: “Because of lack of inverse relationships between maternal intake of total dairy products, milk, cheese, and calcium during pregnancy and the risk of infantile eczema, we cannot rule out the possibility that such intake might be preventive against respiratory infections rather than atopy. Further confirmation of these findings is required.”
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