Junk food and ready-made supermarket meals may be partly to blame for the huge increase in childhood asthma rates around the world, scientists in Scotland have concluded.
Researchers at the University of Aberdeen have found a significant link between the risk of children suffering asthma symptoms and diets lacking in vegetables, vitamins and minerals. Rural children who ate a lot of fresh vegetables were less likely to be asthmatic than city children whose food came frozen and pre-prepared.
One in seven children in Britain suffers from asthma; a figure not dissimilar to Ireland. The number of children under five who develop asthma and wheezing has almost doubled in less than a decade. The new study was led by Scottish researchers in Saudi Arabia, where modern and traditional communities live side by side.
It found striking differences between children from the fast-moving "westernised" city of Jeddah and those living in several rural villages. A lack of vitamin E was associated with a threefold increase in risk. Along with family history and allergic tendencies, eating fast food was identified as a significant risk factor for wheezing.
The researchers, led by Prof Anthony Seaton from the University of Aberdeen, said the traditional Saudi diet bore little superficial resemblance to the average Western diet. In rural communities, people still ate a diet based on cows' and goats' milk, rice, vegetables, lamb, chicken, dates and fruits.
The team concluded: "This study suggests that dietary factors during childhood are an important influence in determining the expression of wheezy illness." The researchers are investigating whether the diets of pregnant women can influence the development of allergic diseases including asthma in their children.