A new study conducted at the University of Aberdeen, UK, by Saskia Willers, M.Sc. of Utrecht University concluded that pregnant women should eat apples and fish in order to reduce the risk that their children develop asthma or allergic disease.

Presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference, on Sunday, May 20, the study concluded that the children of mothers who ate the most apples were less likely to ever have wheezed or have doctor-confirmed asthma at the age of 5 years. The mothers who ate fish once or more a week had given birth to children more resistant to eczema.

The researchers are basing their findings on a lot of 1212 children born to women who had filled out food questionnaires during their pregnancy. When the children reached five, the women were questioned again

the children’s respiratory symptoms and allergies, as well as a questionnaire about their child’s food consumption.

Other studies have looked at individual nutrients’ effect on asthma in pregnancy, but our study looked at specific foods during pregnancy and the subsequent development of childhood asthma and allergies, which is quite new,” Willers says. “Foods contain mixtures of nutrients that may contribute more than the sum of their parts.”

Willers said that the beneficial effect of apples may come from flavonoids, while fish’s protective effect may come from omega-3 fatty acids.