Mothers’ lack of vitamins blamed for child asthma

WOMEN who suffer from vitamin deficiencies during pregnancy could be condemning their unborn children to a lifetime of asthma, a study has found.

Scientists have made a link between low levels of vitamins D and E in expectant mothers and incidences of the chronic respiratory disease in children before the age of ten.

The new study gives fresh hope that an increase in the two vitamins could reduce asthma prevalence in Scotland, which has one of the highest rates in the world.

The Scottish study – the first long-term investigation – found that children whose mothers had suffered from vitamin deficiencies were significantly more likely to develop the disease.

Aberdeen University’s Professor Graham Devereux, t he study’s lead author, warned: ‘Low maternal vitamin D and E intakes during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of children developing asthma in the first ten years of life. These associations may have significant public health implications.’

In Scotland, asthma was the underlying cause of 95 deaths in 2013. An estimated 6.1 per cent of the population is affected by it, with 37,000 suffering severe symptoms, which include breathlessness, wheezing and coughing.

Most vitamin D is produced by the body when it is exposed to sunlight, and Vitamin E can be found in nuts, seeds, and cereals. Both are essential to the immune system’s development.

Scotland has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world, a fact that has also been attributed to a lack of vitamin D, which is essential for the body to absorb calcium and phosphorus, especially in creating healthy bones.

Vitamin E has several important functions, acting as an antioxidant that strengthens the body’s defences. The EU recommends a daily intake of only ten microgrammes, but less than 10 per cent of the population achieves this.

The study, published in the journal Epidemiology and Paediatric Asthma, monitored the health of nearly 2,000 women dur- ing pregnancy, checking their vitamin levels throughout. It then studied the wellbeing of their 1,748 children, born between 1997 and 1999, for the next decade.

Professor Devereux, a clinical consultant in child health at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, said: ‘It has been hypothesised that changing diet contributed to the increase in asthma... observed in economically developed countries i n the l atter decades of the 20th century.

‘Low maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy was associated with an increased likelihood of wheezing and doctor-diagnosed asthma in ten-year-old children.’

Mothers who had low levels of both vitamins were most at risk of having children with asthma, the professor said.

Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: ‘This study shows there is a link between the development of asthma in children by the age of ten and low consumption levels of vitamins D and E by mothers during pregnancy.

‘Although research already shows that diet can contribute to the development of asthma and allergies, asthma is a complex condition and years of research underfunding mean the exact causes remain a relative mystery.’

‘Exact causes are

a mystery’