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Infant wheezing 40 percent less likely if mother supplemented with vitamin D, vitamin E, or Zinc – meta-analysis Aug 2015

Maternal nutrition during pregnancy and risk of asthma, wheeze and atopic diseases during childhood: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Allergy. 2015 Aug 22. doi: 10.1111/all.12729. [Epub ahead of print]
Beckhaus AA1, Garcia-Marcos L2, Forno E3, Pacheco-Gonzalez RM2, Celedón JC3, Castro-Rodriguez JA1.
1 School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
2 Respiratory and Allergy Units, Arrixaca University Children's Hospital, University of Murcia; and IMIB Bio-research Institute, Murcia, Spain.
3 University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies suggest a relationship between maternal nutrition during pregnancy and the occurrence of asthma and atopic conditions during childhood. However, individual study results are conflicting. The objective of this meta-analysis is to critically examine the current evidence for an association between nutrition (dietary patterns, food groups, vitamins or oligo-elements) ingestion during pregnancy and asthma, wheeze or atopic conditions in childhood.

METHODS: The inclusion criteria were: (1) systematic recording of diet during the gestational period and (2) documentation of asthma, wheezing, eczema or other atopic disease in the offspring. The primary outcomes were prevalence of asthma or wheeze among the offspring during childhood; and secondary outcomes were prevalence of eczema, allergic rhinitis or other atopic conditions.

RESULTS: We found 120 titles, abstracts and citations, and 32 studies (29 cohorts) were included in this analysis. Data on vitamins, oligo-elements, food groups and dietary patterns during pregnancy were collected.
A meta-analysis revealed that higher maternal intake of

  • vitamin D (odds ratio [OR]= 0.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 0.38 to 0.88),
  • vitamin E (OR= 0.6, 95% CI=0.46 to 0.78) and
  • zinc (OR=0.62, 95% CI=0.40 to 0.97)

were each associated with lower odds of wheeze during childhood. However, none of these or other nutrients was consistently associated with asthma per-se or other atopic conditions.

CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence suggests a protective effect of maternal intake of each of three vitamins or nutrients (vitamin D, vitamin E and zinc) against childhood wheeze but is inconclusive for an effect on asthma or other atopic conditions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID: 26296633


See also Vitamin D Life