Moms-to-be, watch your sugar. It may up risk of asthma in your child

A recent research found associations between maternal intake of free sugars in pregnancy and allergy and asthma in their children.

Mothers-to-be, beware! Women who take too much sugar during pregnancy are doubling the chance of their kid’s tendency to develop asthma. The study, which involved almost 9,000 mother and child pairs, used data from a world-leading birth cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as ‘Children of the 90s’. The research analysed associations between maternal intake of free sugars in pregnancy and allergy and asthma at seven years of age.

While there was only weak evidence for a link between free sugar intake in pregnancy and asthma overall, there were strong positive associations with allergy and allergic asthma. The team found no association with eczema or hay fever. The study’s lead-researcher, Professor Seif Shaheen, said, “Given the extremely high consumption of sugar in the West, we will certainly be investigating this hypothesis further with some urgency.”

The team thought that the sugar link with asthma may be explained by high intakes of fructose triggering an immune response leading to inflammation in developing lungs. The scientists controlled for numerous potential confounders in their analyses, such as background maternal characteristics, social factors and other aspects of maternal diet, including foods and nutrients that have been previously linked to childhood asthma and allergy.

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