Mum's vitamin E may affect child's asthma risk

The Facts:
* Almost 1900 women were asked to complete a questionnaire about their food intake during pregnancy.
* Their children were studied for the first five years after birth to see if they developed asthma.
* The results indicated that children were less likely to develop asthma and wheeze if their mothers ate foods containing vitamin E and zinc during pregnancy.

Shaun’s comment: This cohort study (where a group of participants are followed for a period of time) was published in one of the most important respiratory research journals. Women who took vitamin E whilst pregnant were less likely to have children who had asthma or asthma-like symptoms. The same result was found for zinc. With the increasing number of people around the world who have asthma and other allergic disorders, this is potentially an important finding. However, it remains to be seen whether the vitamin E and zinc intake directly caused the reduction in asthma, or were instead associated with other factors which led to the decrease that was seen.

Study reference:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1164/rccm.200512-1946OC